Loch Dhu

[Aix]

I'm curious to know if anyone here has ever had the opportunity to sample Mannochmore's Loch Dhu. This is an oddity in the world of single malts. It is aged in double-charred casks which gives it its unique black (really black!) colour. I've only ever been able to read about it and I'd love to hear some first hand accounts of how unusual it truly is. Thanks.

[Alberto]

Hi Aix,

Loch Dhu draws its colour from E150, aka caramel; whisky aged in Scotland in new charred american oak barrels can get a golden colour with light shades of green, a good example is William Grant's Black Barrel which is Girvan grain whisky aged in the same barrels used for Bourbon. From caramel colouring it also takes quite some bitterness and astringency; the malt substrate is flowery and clean, offering some kind of balance.

Anyways, Loch Dhu is not an unpleasant after dinner dram and can go well as a replacement for amaro, also on the rocks. I would not consider it "real" scotch whisky though.

Slainthe!

Alberto

Edited August 26, 2003 by Alberto (log)

[slacker]

I tasted Loch Dhu a few years ago (no longer available for the time being in the UK) and it was tarry in the extreme. Or was I fooled? Did the colour and texture (almost like PX sherry) tell me what it tasted like?

I remeber thinking at the time that I didn't want too much of it coating my insides, just as one avoids the tar from cigarettes. It took me 4 more years to give up smoking, though.

So it turns out, then, that I have been duped, and that the caramel would have gone straight through without touching the sides.