Review #540 - Lochlea Fallow Edition First Crop
Lochlea, a distillery established in 2018, is still relatively young. Some of their earliest bottlings, back in 2022, were a series of limited releases related to the different seasons of the year, especially related to the farming cycle: Sowing, Harvest, Fallow, and Ploughing. These are annual releases (with a limited lifespan, ending soon), and each version of each season was labeled to distinguish the year of release; for 2022, the inaugural versions, bottles were sub-labeled as 'First Crop.'
Here we have the Fallow Edition First Crop; fallow in farming terms refers to unsown land, which is not used for planting in a given season. Typically, this would be use to reinvigorate the soil or allow for crop rotation; this release lines up with the Autumn season, just after the barley harvest.
There's no age statement for this whisky, but because of the years of founding and release, we know this spirit to be 3 to 4 years old; the cask selection for this edition was entirely Oloroso sherry butts, a full maturation as opposed to a finish.
Lochlea Fallow Edition First Crop
Scotland/Lowland - Single Malt
Price: USD 69 (2025)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 46% ABV
Cask Makeup: Oloroso sherry butts
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; bottled 2022
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle 50% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a nosing glass, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Very fruit-forward - orange, strawberry, some darker dried fruits like fig and prune. There's a nutty side as well from the Oloroso, and we get a nice creamy barley note; white pepper adds a soft kick.
Palate: A medium thickness mouthfeel; it's a little bit syrupy, fruit-forward again. Oranges and raspberry sherbet are strong; it's sugary, though there's an interesting spice from nutmeg.
Finish: Medium length, nicely oily, a solid distillate shows here. Wood influence becomes a little more spicy, and the fruit is more subtle - tart red fruit like cranberry. The nutty notes have continued from the nose and palate, too.
Final Note: Tasty whisky - our favorite of the First Crop editions, perhaps tied with the Ploughing Edition. The spirit tastes a bit youthful, of course, but really, it's nicely covered up by the heavier cask influence in this case. Red fruits are dominant in the tasting experience, though we appreciated the stronger nutty notes that were always prevalent, too.
Value on these bottles is decent, a little above average. While not the most complex or nuanced at this young age, they pack plenty of flavor, and they give a great indication that Lochlea is making very solid spirit, which should mature nicely.
Our Average Rating: 7.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.83
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Lochlea reviews:
Review #542 - Lochlea Ploughing Edition First Crop
