The Loch Lomond distillery is an odd one. For one thing, as far as I
know it's the only distillery with exactly the same name as its (main)
water source. And that's not the only odd thing; because they have
three types of stills (two traditional pot stills, four 'Lomond' stills and
one column still) on the premises, they can produce an incredibly wide
variety of brands and whisky types. And unfortunately they do...

If you've ever bought a bottle of Craiglodge, Croftengea, Inchfad,
Inchmoan, Inchmurrin or Old Rhosdhu because you thought the whisky
was crafted at a picturesque obscure distillery by that name, you were
sadly mistaken - these are all brands from the Loch Lomond Distillery.
I'm no big fan of most of their work, but tried a spectacular Croftengea.

Loch Lomond is one of the more recently constructed distilleries in Scotland. It was built in 1965 and
production started in 1966. Ownership of their Littlemill Distillery Company Ltd. parent company was
divided between Barton Brands and Duncan Thomas, but the latter sold his shares a few years later.
The distillery was closed in 1984 after the whisky industry was hit hard by a recession. Glen Catrine
Bonded Warehouse Ltd. became the new owners in 1985 and in 1987 production was resumed at the
Loch Lomond distillery. Until 1993 they only produced malt whisky, but in that year a Coffey still for the
production of grain whisky was installed as well. After that date, whisky production at Loch Lomond
increased dramatically - but keep in mind that grain whisky is much easier to produce than malt whisky.

For many years Loch Lomond was quietly churning out its fairly
mediocre whiskies when the distillery suddenly found themselves
in the middle of a little riot. In 2008 the SWA (the Scotch Whisky
Association; primarily a lobby organisation for other large whisky
producers) proposed new legislation that would outlaw the use
of the phrase 'single malt whisky' on bottles of Loch Lomond.
 
Loch Lomond proposed a separate category for some of their
unique whiskies, but Campbell Evans of the SWA replied: "The
SWA, whose members account for over 90% of all production and
sales, rejects the notion of a sixth category. Traditionally, two types
of Scotch Whisky have been produced, Malt Scotch Whisky produced
by a distillation of a mash of malted barley in pot stills, and Grain
Scotch Whisky produced by distillation of different cereals, including
malted barley, in patent stills."  Campbell then continued with:

1) According to Dave Broom, malt whiskies produced in Coffey stills are also known as 'Silent Malts'.

2) Loch Lomond also owns the Glen Scotia distillery in Campbeltown.

3) More trivia will be added later...
 

Here's are my notes on some of the official bottlings produced at Loch Lomond distillery;

Loch Lomond NAS (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1999)
Nose: Oily and malty. No power, but more flavours than the Inchmurrin at first.
Becomes even oilier later on. Too much after 10 minutes! Loses a lot of points here.
Taste: Herbal. Soft and a bit sweet. Menthol? Bitterness. No 'challenge'.
Score: 58 points - not much complexity and 'depth'.

Old Rhosdhu 5yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1997, 70cl)
Nose: The first thing that comes to mind when you smell this malt is 'Phew!'. Sickeningly slick.
Castor-oil. Sweat and cheap aftershave. Hints of coffee.
taste: The taste is very oily as well. Perfumy. Just too smooth - it's gone before you know it.
Score: 44 points - this wanders into Drumguish 3yo territory.
Perhaps only great distilleries like Lagavulin can produce something that's enjoyable at such a young age.

Inchmurrin 10yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1999)
Nose: Malty, oily... more smoke than Loch Lomond. Vegetables? Barbecue spices?
Not very interesting at first, but becomes more powerful after a few minutes.
Taste: Disappointing start. Soft first, bitter later on. More complex after a while. Eucalyptus! Peaches?
Score: 63 points - notable improvement over time.

Craiglodge 2001/2005 (45%, OB, Distillery Select, Cask #223, Dist. 26/2/01, Bottled 8/9/05, 434 Bottles)
Nose: Sour and immature. Very farmy. Cattle feed. Not unlike grappa. Not a trace of peat I could find.
Taste: Superficial and gritty. Very much like grain whisky. Young, cheap grain whisky that is.
Very much like stale beer in the finish - they've stooped to new lows at Loch Lomond distillery.
Score: 32 points - that's right.... this is one of the very worst single malts I ever tried!
The only thing that kept it from sinking any lower was the fact that it had personality.
Oh, the torture and humiliation I'm willing to suffer to reach my obsessive objectives...

Inchmoan 2001/2005 (45%, OB, Distillery Select, Cask #53, Dist. 5/3/01, Bottled 7/9/05, 397 Bottles)
Nose: Crap! Pretty much the same as the Craiglodge. Farmy and immature, maybe less expressive.
In fact, it quickly turned into a 'gutter' direction. Glue and maybe the faintest memory of a hint of peat.
Taste: A little sweeter than the Craiglodge, maybe with the faintest hint of peat. Beer again.
Score: 28 points - incredible.... What were they thinking when they released this?

Croftengea 10yo 1993 (54.8%, OB, for the The Whisky Fair 2004).
Nose: Strange. 'Farmy'. Odd organics. Quite interesting - growing VERY interesting. Dentist? Unique.
It has whiffs of oil and 'grain warehouse'. I can't say I like it, but it's something else!
It's somewhere in an unexplored corner between coastal, oily and medicinal. Shows new facets every time
Sweeter, fruitier and more complex with some time and water. I found gooseberries during a second try.
Taste: Sweet and hot. Smoky centre and finish. Wow, this is better than I expected.
Peppery prickle, mellowing out towards the finish. Smoke remains the dominant factor.
A second tasting showed lots of liquorice root and some vaguely fruity impressions.
This does have the power and punch of an Kildalton malt, but not the body or depth.
Score: 84 points - but it needs a few bonus points for character to get there.
Nevertheless, by far the best thing that ever came from the Loch Lomond distillery, if you ask me.
It's funny that LL seem to have succeeded where Mannochmore and Speyside have failed: creating a 'smoke monster'. Not so much in the nose, but on the palate. The Loch Dhu had just too much 'body' for me and the Cu Dhub simply didn't have enough. It seems they got the balance figured out for this one and the nose is very interesting as well. It seems a new contender has entered the arena, and it comes from one of the unlikeliest of distilleries: Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond (Inchmoan) 29yo 1974/2003 (54.4%, Cadenhead's Chairman Stock, 210 Bts.)
Nose: Passion fruits and a hint of antiquity. Vaguely spicy. Some clay. More subtle with water.
Taste: Beautiful 'evolved' / tertiary fruits. More pronounced tannins after adding water. Metallic finish.
Score: 86 points - making it my second favourite Loch Lomond ever by 2008. Wonderful stuff!
My #1 was the Inchmurrin 34yo 1967/2001 (45.3%, OB for Sweden, Vin & Spirit, Sherry cask, 1800 Bts.)
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Loch Lomond whisky I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made at this distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

"The further category being floated does not therefore reflect traditional Scotch Whisky distillation and practice. Such a move would undermine the proposals and confuse consumers. The product in question is in any event already covered by the term 'Single Grain Scotch Whisky' outlined in the draft Regulations."

Ah, yes.... Whenever the SWA can't come up with an answer that makes sense
they fall back on that old chestnut of theirs; 'customer confusion'. If there's anything
that confuses customers it's the endless stream of half-truths and outright lies that is emanating
from the offices of the SWA. As you may have guessed, Loch Lomond isn't a member of the Scotch Whisky Association.
The fact of the matter is that distillation of malt whisky in Coffey stills actually IS a traditional practice. According to Ulf
Buxrud the use of continuous still in the production of malt whiskies was not uncommon during the period 1887-1945.
After 1945 the Christie family (the people behind the 'Speyside' distillery) apparently used their Coffey stills to produce
some malt whisky in the early 1960's. So, let's all whistle the SWA theme song now: 'Twisting the truth away...'