08/04/2024 Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond d.2014 (55.7%, Cask Sample, 1st Fill Sauternes Cask): drawn in 2024. Nose: a strange combination of melted milk chocolate and thick (purple) nail varnish. Second later, we have oily Brazil nuts mingling with turpentine, then pencil-lead shavings, and mahogany shelves. We soon return to melted chocolate, now augmented with soft spices -- saffron, turmeric, faded garam masala,. The second nose offers toasted  barley and honey pops, caramelised puffed wheat, and fewer spice, altogether. Shaking the glass lets a whiff of raw spirit through, which reminds one of the whisky's youth, something that is made up for by a whisper of hardened Turkish delights. Later on, old pencils arrive with old cartons. Odd. Mouth: hazelnut paste pumped with spices -- ginger, cinnamon bark, turmeric, a pinch of asafoetida, ground mace, and a spoonful of honey for good measure. It is sweet, spicy, somewhat bitter (cassia bark, perhaps? Laurel?), and has an astringency imparted by an alcohol that has not had enough time to totally integrate. Retro-nasal olfaction catches a waxy note, maybe plasticine. The second sip has caramelised wheat puffs, unscented hand sanitiser, and a spinach-based curry rich with ground coriander, and a dash of unripe-lime juice. Finish: mellow and comfortable, it starts with the creamy  character of a hazelnut paste, then steps up when spices join it: stem ginger, turmeric powder, a pinch of asafoetida, and a dollop of dark honey. The second gulp confirms the stem ginger, adds macadamia nuts, and underlines the whole with crushed bay leaves. Those bay leaves bring a gentle (not too gentle) bitterness that also points at unripe citrus; lime, or pomelo peels, to be precise. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, DH)