Whisky Connosr
Menu
Shop Join

Lohin McKinnon Single Malt

Soft and floral

1 979

@MegawattReview by @Megawatt

18th May 2018

1

  • Nose
    21
  • Taste
    19
  • Finish
    19
  • Balance
    20
  • Overall
    79

Show rating data charts

Distribution of ratings for this: user

  • Brand: Lohin McKinnon
  • ABV: 43%
  • Batch: Lot 0002

Description: craft-distilled malt whisky from the Central City brewing company in British Columbia.

Nose: soft and floral, with fruit and nut accents. Exceedingly gentle, slightly sweet.

Taste: light-bodied yet creamy, with a strange, milky flavour. Then the floral and nutty notes come through, along with a bit of oak. Ultra-smooth, especially for a young whisky. Some raisin and plum brandy notes appear near the end.

Finish: young, green malt all the way. More of that plum brandy.

Balance: drinkable and inoffensive to a fault. Tasted blind, I would probably peg this as an Auchentoshan. The floral/nutty profile is not my favourite, but here it is gentle enough not to detract from the experience. Longer aging should benefit this whisky tremendously. Worth checking out if you can find it on sale.

9 comments

@cricklewood
cricklewood commented

Nice review, I had a chance to sample this at SOT. It's very much as you said, green, floral and light, very close to the grain, it lacked something to grab your attention. I tried their wine cask finished variant and felt that the wine easily drowned the base malt. Needs more time and a higher proof.

They released a limited edition bottling for the Canada 150 anniversary, it is a blend of malted rye and peated malt finished in oloroso casks.. That makes me curious

5 years ago 0

@Megawatt
Megawatt commented

The more I drink it, the more I want to delete that comment about it being worth checking out. This is not one I would buy again, at any price.

5 years ago 2Who liked this?

@cricklewood
cricklewood commented

@Megawatt Oh no buyer's remorse...it happens, see if you can salvage it in cocktails or as a component in home blends, or perhaps passing it along to someone who likes it better than you do.

I have gifted/been gifted a few that way.

5 years ago 0

@Megawatt
Megawatt commented

I'm now 0 for 3 on my last 3 bottles. Fortunately they were all cheap/on sale. But still. I might need to rethink this idea of always trying new whiskies, especially from small or unknown distilleries.

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@MadSingleMalt
MadSingleMalt commented

@cricklewood , where do they get their peated malt from?

Or if they malt it themselves, where do they get the peat?

5 years ago 0

@Robert99
Robert99 commented

@Megawatt Did you try Last Mountain whiskyy? I once had it at a tasting with @paddockjudge, @nozinan and many more and it was surprising. It started like a nice Canadian whisky and suddenly at the end WHAM! the stronger coffee note I ever encountered in a whisky. It is a wheat whisky from Saskatchewan that I am curious of and would really like to know if that coffee note was a luck or if it is a distillery signature.

5 years ago 0

@Megawatt
Megawatt commented

@Robert99 Nope, haven't encountered that one. One a related note, Stalk and Barrel single malt has the strongest black tea flavour I've ever encountered in a whisky.

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@cricklewood
cricklewood commented

@MadSingleMalt I am not sure about the origin of their peated malt but as they are also a functioning brewery I would assume from one of the many malt suppliers. I doubt it is from Port Ellen, from what I have heard (but could be false) PE doesn't take many new clients and it is quite expensive as one must buy a large quantity.

There isn't much out there on this peated hybrid they make but my curiosity is piqued, I would do a bottle split if anyone else is interested and we can actually find it. Two Brewers in Yukon (incidentally also a brewery) makes a peated single malt that has received really good reviews SAQ received some a few weeks ago, I am trying to see if they have any for sampling.

5 years ago 1Who liked this?

@dloewen
dloewen commented

I'm a huge fan of any Lohin McKinnon stuff I've tried so far...including the peated malt. To answer the question above, they actually got their malted barley from Baird's in Scotland. In 2017 they switched to Simpsons peat malt also out of Scotland.

5 years ago 0

You must be signed-in to comment here

Sign in