This heavily peated Loch Lomond was bottled by Whiskybroker.co.uk in 2018, and if it was an official bottling this would have been called Croftengea, Inchmoan or Inchfad, since that’s how they brand their heavily peated whiskies normally.

Because this is a Whiskybroker bottling you can count on it having been affordable, and if memory serves it came in at only about £ 40 a pop. I’m not entirely sure why I bought this bottle back then, but I guess the slew of good Inchmurrins (yet another one of Loch Lomond’s brands) had something to do with it.

The bottle had been open for some time and I used it in a few tastings during the pandemic, but when my recent summer holidays came up, I decided to take the tail end with me and finish there.

Sniff:
Quite vegetal with some earthy peat smoke. Pretty light and green, mossy, coastal with sea weed and smoke.

Sip:
Quite syrupy, but rather intense. Vegetables, sea weed, soil, grass, wood, and quite a lot of wood.

Swallow:
The finish continues on the same path, but becomes a tad simple.

That last word, simple, is the problem with this whisky. It does that green thing quite well, but there’s not much reason to come back for seconds, unless you’re going for some easy drinking.

So, this is one of those whiskies that’s pretty decent but it’s a tad boring. The greenness is nice. The coastal notes are nice. They’re just somewhat simple and that’s not too surprising. Loch Lomond isn’t one of the most interesting distilleries, although there’s the occasional heavy hitter that scores well. This just sits in their comfort zone.

Decent enough, as a daily drinker.

80/100

Loch Lomond 13, 24/02/2005 – 05/10/2018, Hogshead 409, 50%, Whiskybroker.co.uk