Review #849 - SMWS 135.43 'Whisky Daydreams' - Loch Lomond 21 Year
Loch Lomond has several bottling codes in the numbering scheme from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society; this single cask comes from distillery '135' and is made from unpeated distillate. It also comes with a premium age statement of 21 years, all of which was spent in a first fill ex-bourbon cask.
Loch Lomond is generally a distillery which can be found at a reasonable price, even with a higher age statements; this example from the SMWS had a price of $230 when it was released a few years ago, which is expensive, but not unreasonable for a 21 year old single malt. How does this single cask stack up?
SMWS 135.43 'Whisky Daydreams' - Loch Lomond 21 Year
Scotland/Highland - Single Malt
Price: USD 230 (2022)
Age Statement: 21 Years
Strength: 54.1% ABV
Cask Makeup: First fill ex-bourbon barrel
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled July 26, 2000; 112 bottles
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times (once blind) over 5 months from a sample. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Very vegetal malt, a bit earthy, with brighter fruits of lemon and green apple, almost rotten apple. It's chalky, and we get some dry oak and wet autumn leaves, as well as a bit of brown sugar. Accents included floral notes, buttery pastries, and a slightly sour scent.
Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium thickness. Honey, vanilla, and light melon add some sweetness, but this is soon full of a lot of sharp, tannic oak. Cinnamon, tart stone fruit, and banana arrive; it grows lighter and softer with time, not too intense.
Finish: Lots of drying oak, but also caramelized peach, creamy melon, and a fizzy character build. The vegetal malt notes return and grows intense, and we get unusual flavors of brown banana peel and sour fruits. It's a medium-long finish.
Final Note: This was a bit of an unbalanced dram for us. It's interesting, but at times, the vegetal, slightly sour malty notes dominated, while at other points, the drying, tannic oak influence from that long maturation made the whole thing quite spicy. There were subtleties of light, sweet fruit which we enjoyed, but overall, we struggled to connect with this bottle.
Because of the combination of mediocre score and the high price, value here is not very good in our opinion. We've liked almost all of the Loch Lomond whiskies that we've tried, but this one won't rank among our favorites.
Our Rating: 5.5 / 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: 3.59
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 Loch Lomond reviews:
Review #848 - SMWS 112.125 'Chiselled Features' - Loch Lomond (Inchmurrin) 17 Year
Review #811 - SMWS 135.70 'A Distant Campfire After Rain' - Loch Lomond (Inchmoan) 10 Year
Review #706 - SMWS 135.63 'Calligraphy in Meguro' - Loch Lomond (Inchmoan) 9 Year
Review #210 - Loch Lomond 18 Year
Review #198 - SMWS 122.40 'Smoky to a Tee' - Loch Lomond (Croftengea) 10 Year
