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| Lagg distillery, the location of our adventures, today |
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| A wild orchid |
It is chucking down when we wake up from our nap in the distillery car park. Luckily, we have come prepared! Waterproof trousers on, we are in for the orchard tour with Big Davie.
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| The orchard is hidden in plain sight |
It is an excellent experience with only us three (JS, adc, tOMoH): Big Davie tells us there are four more people on site, but they rocked up with inadequate clothing and footwear, and will therefore hear the story from the distillery's balcony. Tourists.
We hear all about how to grow and maintain apple trees, how they are better off protected from the wind by a screen of willows, how hares chew the bark to reach the sap, the use of reedbeds, the local fauna and flora.
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| A screen of willows protects the apple trees |
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| The trunk is swaddled to stop hares eating the bark |
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| Apples |
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| More apples |
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| Reedbeds |
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| Who is this? |
We inadvertently disturb a lapwing watching over her chicks, hear how Arran is a burial ground, and generally have a wonderful time.
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| The lapwing may have had other worries, after all |
We join the group on the balcony to sample a dram and receive a can of the cider made (not on site) with the apples from the orchard.
Lagg (59.1%, OB Exclusive Bottling for Lagg Distillery, Finished in ex-Tequila Casks): nose: does what it says on the tin, don't it? Smoke and agave. There you are. There is roasted barley, strawbales and a veil of smoke wrapping the whole, succulent plants, cactuses/cacti (both are correct, it seems) full of water after a tropical rain, drier cacti in a planter on a window sill, and, lastly, lemon and lime zest. This is one for margarita drinkers. Tilting the glass increases the agave note. The second nose offers cocoa powder -- Nesquik in that yellow corrugated-plastic container, to be precise, container included. We also find lime zest sprinkled on limestone, and the smoke from a citrus tree on fire. It gains a medicinal touch, in the long run, some disinfectant or another, especially when tilting the glass (turning it upside down, really). Mouth: it starts off fresh and zesty, with an inimitable acidic-sweet touch that lime gives off. Chewing unleashes a fury of smoky agave and soot. It is like walking through a burning agave plantation once controlled by a Mexican cartel. The acidity morphs into a mild bitterness, and gives smoked agave topped with sugarcane juice. It has lots of tobacco too, and catch myself thinking of the banana cigars sonicvince brought back from a trip to Thailand. Here and there, we spot a drop of lime juice, yet it is nowhere near as clear as on the nose, now. The second sip is even closer to tequila. Agave, mouldy sugar crystals, dried algae and kelp crushed into a powder. Salt makes a late appearance on the top front of the mouth. Repeated sipping adds a clear note of disinfectant on the palate too, likely oxygenated water. Finish: without being aggressive, it is quite a punch in the throat. Green, smoky and a little mineral, it has stone dust, dried freshwater algae, crushed cactus, and lime zest so dry it is but a green, rocky dust. The second gulp is fruitier and adds yellow to the green, so to speak. Unripe pomelo, unripe-pineapple bark, salted lime wedges, lime zest freshly grated off the skin, and unripe clementines or bergamots rub elbows with agave and cactus. It proves saltier and drying in the long run too, hardly balanced by a pinch of sugar crystals. This is decent, if not for everyone. It is not entirely for me. 6/10 (I finally try this on 25/07/2025)
Ayrshire Riviera Cider (7.2%, OB): nose: it smells fresh and sparkly -- ha! ha! It has a faint fruit smell, but I say 'sparkly' as in sparkling water, which means it is much more neutral than cider tends to be. Funnily enough, it does not sparkle very much in the glass, however. Closer nosing, without surprise, reveals apple juice and... cider. Ahem. Further on, it has some apples that are badly bruised. The second nose is a bit more fragrant. Oh! we are not talking about Golden Delicious apples; rather Cortland of Fallawater. Mouth: sparkling water indeed, even if it really is almost flat on the taste buds. Chewing stirs up pressed apples, and, let us be clear, they are not of a very-juicy kind, but dry and acidic. Again, bruised and sour apples, acidic, fermenting, yet not all that juicy. At 7.2%, it feels watered down -- and it is: Big Davie tells us they could not bring the ABV any lower for fear of denaturing the result too much. Bear in mind that that is high for a (UK) cider. The second sip sparkles a tad more on the tongue, still closer to sparkling water with a slice of apple in it than any other cider I have tasted (granted that is not a long list). Generally speaking, cider tends to be more intense than this, in my experience. Finish: sour, it tastes of fermentation -- a taste that lingers. It is apples alright, yet a cultivar that goes from unripeness to decay without passing through a juicy-sweet state. It is not unpleasant, it feels and tastes more authentic, yet it will likely struggle to woo most consumers and, therefore, to meet commercial success. The second gulp adds plasters to the mix, and a firm bitterness. We are back with unripe fruits, in other words. Cobblestones or refrigerated pebbles show up late in the game, which is unexpected. tOMoH loves the idea of an orchard and salutes the initiative to make cider with the apples of that orchard. He finds it more of a curiosity than an experience to repeat endlessly, though. 5/10 (I finally try this on 25/07/2025)
With a little time ahead of us, we grab a portion of Dirty Haggis Chips from the cafeteria and browse the shop
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| Potato chips are a huge step-up from last time |
Lagg (59.1%, OB Exclusive Bottling for Lagg Distillery, Finished in ex-Tequila Casks): nose: does what it says on the tin, don't it? Smoke and agave. There you are. There is roasted barley, strawbales and a veil of smoke wrapping the whole, succulent plants, cactuses/cacti (both are correct, it seems) full of water after a tropical rain, drier cacti in a planter on a window sill, and, lastly, lemon and lime zest. This is one for margarita drinkers. Tilting the glass increases the agave note. The second nose offers cocoa powder -- Nesquik in that yellow corrugated-plastic container, to be precise, container included. We also find lime zest sprinkled on limestone, and the smoke from a citrus tree on fire. It gains a medicinal touch, in the long run, some disinfectant or another, especially when tilting the glass (turning it upside down, really). Mouth: it starts off fresh and zesty, with an inimitable acidic-sweet touch that lime gives off. Chewing unleashes a fury of smoky agave and soot. It is like walking through a burning agave plantation once controlled by a Mexican cartel. The acidity morphs into a mild bitterness, and gives smoked agave topped with sugarcane juice. It has lots of tobacco too, and catch myself thinking of the banana cigars sonicvince brought back from a trip to Thailand. Here and there, we spot a drop of lime juice, yet it is nowhere near as clear as on the nose, now. The second sip is even closer to tequila. Agave, mouldy sugar crystals, dried algae and kelp crushed into a powder. Salt makes a late appearance on the top front of the mouth. Repeated sipping adds a clear note of disinfectant on the palate too, likely oxygenated water. Finish: without being aggressive, it is quite a punch in the throat. Green, smoky and a little mineral, it has stone dust, dried freshwater algae, crushed cactus, and lime zest so dry it is but a green, rocky dust. The second gulp is fruitier and adds yellow to the green, so to speak. Unripe pomelo, unripe-pineapple bark, salted lime wedges, lime zest freshly grated off the skin, and unripe clementines or bergamots rub elbows with agave and cactus. It proves saltier and drying in the long run too, hardly balanced by a pinch of sugar crystals. This is decent, if not for everyone. It is not entirely for me. 6/10 (I finally try this on 25/07/2025)
Ayrshire Riviera Cider (7.2%, OB): nose: it smells fresh and sparkly -- ha! ha! It has a faint fruit smell, but I say 'sparkly' as in sparkling water, which means it is much more neutral than cider tends to be. Funnily enough, it does not sparkle very much in the glass, however. Closer nosing, without surprise, reveals apple juice and... cider. Ahem. Further on, it has some apples that are badly bruised. The second nose is a bit more fragrant. Oh! we are not talking about Golden Delicious apples; rather Cortland of Fallawater. Mouth: sparkling water indeed, even if it really is almost flat on the taste buds. Chewing stirs up pressed apples, and, let us be clear, they are not of a very-juicy kind, but dry and acidic. Again, bruised and sour apples, acidic, fermenting, yet not all that juicy. At 7.2%, it feels watered down -- and it is: Big Davie tells us they could not bring the ABV any lower for fear of denaturing the result too much. Bear in mind that that is high for a (UK) cider. The second sip sparkles a tad more on the tongue, still closer to sparkling water with a slice of apple in it than any other cider I have tasted (granted that is not a long list). Generally speaking, cider tends to be more intense than this, in my experience. Finish: sour, it tastes of fermentation -- a taste that lingers. It is apples alright, yet a cultivar that goes from unripeness to decay without passing through a juicy-sweet state. It is not unpleasant, it feels and tastes more authentic, yet it will likely struggle to woo most consumers and, therefore, to meet commercial success. The second gulp adds plasters to the mix, and a firm bitterness. We are back with unripe fruits, in other words. Cobblestones or refrigerated pebbles show up late in the game, which is unexpected. tOMoH loves the idea of an orchard and salutes the initiative to make cider with the apples of that orchard. He finds it more of a curiosity than an experience to repeat endlessly, though. 5/10 (I finally try this on 25/07/2025)
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