December 21, 2015

Some very old Lochside before Christmas

Good, this is the Christmas week! Time to have some magic, genuine old Scotch whisky and to carefully avoid the avalanche of rather uninspired and uninspiring ‘modern’ whiskies that are launched each and every day ad nauseam. Right, exaggerating again, there are some great new whiskies around, but let’s have these Lochsides…

Lochside 44 yo 1967/2011 (41.1%, Coopers Choice, butt, cask #802, 320 bottles)

This baby may be the oldest Lochside malts ever bottled. Coopers Choice had several casks, and we already had a lighter (in colour) cask a few years ago (cask #807, WF 90). Colour: deep gold. Nose: Jesus Mary and Joseph, what a great Lochsidian nose! Imagine a little copper, or say old coins, plus a large basket full of ripe mangos, bananas, passion fruits and pink grapefruits. Then, after fifteen seconds, you get more menthol, peppermint, and the faintest eucalyptussy smell. Perhaps a handful of fresh almonds and hazelnuts as well. The freshness is impressive, you would have thought this baby would have been ridden with oaky scents. Not at all! Perhaps also rose petals and a touch of fresh butter. This, is a malt of distinction. Mouth: hehehe, it roars! Well, not quite, but I had feared that at barely 40% vol. it would have become flattish and cardboardy. Not at all, and even if it’s not the brightest hyperfruity Lochside ever, and even if it tends to lose a bit of steam after one minute, all the fruits are still there. Maracuja, mangos, all that. A little chamomile as well, lime tree tea, green tea, orange blossom. In fact, it ends its life on you your palate almost all on notes of freshly squeezed oranges. Finish: okay, it’s rather short – no, very short - but it remained fresh. As they say, it leaves your palate ready for another glass. Comments: reminds me of some old Irish! Technically, this very old malt should rather lie around 87/88 points in my book, but a. it’s Lochside and b. this is the Christmas week. So… SGP:451 - 90 points.

Lochside 31 yo 1959/1991 (57.9%, Signatory Vintage, cask #5295, 140 bottles)

A very interesting bottle, as it clearly mentions ‘malt whisky’, while some well-reputed authors rather mention 1961 as the first year when Lochside started to distil malt. Indeed I’ve always thought that from 1957 to 1961, Lochside had only produced grain whisky, 1961 being the year when Joseph Hobbs, who was to pass away in 1964, installed four pot stills. Having said that, the Coffey still was only removed in 1970, so Lochside had been making both grain and malt (and single blends) in the 1960s. Anyway, let’s see if we could find out… Colour: gold. Nose: well well well, this is a tricky issue, since what I’m getting at first nosing is rather… rum. It’s true that Lochside’s ‘tropical’ fruitiness is never far from that of some rums. In truth I find this very malty, and should this baby be a grain, well, it’s the maltiest grain I’ve ever nosed. Oranges, green bananas… With water: same kind of combo. Oranges, Campari, mint leaves. Mouth: tastes like malt, big time! Peppery oranges, green tea, apple peelings, gooseberries, chilli… It’s both very fruity and very spicy, a combo that’s rather unusual. With water: almost a copy of the 1967 now, only with more spices, pepper, bitter oranges… Finish: rather long, peppery, beautifully bitter. Cinchona, bitter oranges, pepper, ginger, orange peel… Jaegermeister in the aftertaste. Comments: wonderful again, only the Jaegermeister was a little disturbing ;-). Oh and I highly doubt this was grain whisky. The mystery thickens… SGP:461 - 89 points.

There’s only one way to find out, which is trying some old grain by Lochside…

Lochside grain 46 yo 1963/2010 (46.6%, First Cask, WIN’s 5th Anniversary, refill sherry, 71 bottles)

WIN stands for Whisky Import Nederland. As for these grains, we’ve already had a few by Douglas Laing, and had found them very palatable. Colour: amber. Nose: an old Yquem, like, with herbal teas and honey, like, plus apricot jam and overripe mirabelles. Like. There is, as always in grains ex-good wood, quite some vanilla and coconut as well, but balance was kept perfect and this nose is simply wonderful. Touches of tobacco and walnuts arising after twenty seconds, that’s the sherry talking. Perfect. Mouth: a wee bit of sour wood at first, but then it just goes ballistic on many honeys, pollens, tobaccos, and dried fruits. Add a little blackcurrant jam, a touch of star anise (white mulled wine), tangerine, and a smidgen of crystallised ginger and, perhaps, cayenne. Marmalade. Very impressive for grain whisky. Strength and mouth feel are perfect. Finish: medium, clean, without the faintest drying oak, with some chocolate and some marmalade. A touch of spicy pineapple chutney. Comments: very impressive indeed. Not sure this was natural cask strength, but if it was, imagine this baby must have gone down from approx 75% ABV to 46.6% within 46 years. No wonder it’s beautifully concentrated and ‘Yquemy’. SGP:651 - 91 points.

So that 1963 was clearly ‘grain’, which implies that the 1959 was well a genuine malt. Mindboggling…
PS: I’ll post an update as soon as I get more information about Lochside’s actual ‘malty years’.

(with mille mercis to Angus, Nicolas, and Philippe)

Check the index of all Lochside I've tasted so far