Lochside 21 Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing

Went to Feathers for this dram. Because… I’ve been told I’m behind.

Lochside distillery killed my grandfather. Thus why I never have reviewed them, and it’s a horrible pain my family deals with every day.

Wait, no, that’s silly. Or at least macabre. I just haven’t had a chance to try any Lochside distillery before, as it lasted a very short amount of time. They started in 1957, and then were closed in 1992, with the warehouse closed in 1997. Heck, just as permission came in to destroy the last of the buildings, they burned down.

As noted by others, Lochside even had two types of whiskies: Up until 1973 they had a Coffey still, and after that just a single malt.

That said, for awhile there, Murray McDavid called Lochside the “Springbank of the East”.

If it feels like I’m reaching here, it’s because I am. Lochside just doesn’t have a lot of history around it. I mean, they only used ex-Bourbon casks, ever, so that’s interesting, because they had a special relation to the Spanish market (their distributor was DYC, part of Pedro Domecq sherry).

So I’m drinking Lochside 21 Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing today, because… Well I think I kinda have to. It’s been noted there’s holes in my review schedule, not limited to this distillery, but included in this distillery.

So let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A

Region: Highland

Distilled: May 1979

Bottled: June 2000

Age: 21 years

Out run: 306 bottles

Abv: 50%

Colour: 7.5Y 9/8

Nose: Orange juice, caramel, guava, white raspberry, lemon thyme, floral, vanilla, butter

Lots of different notes going on here. Leans on some well developed citrus notes that work their way into other facets. Sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes it’s tart, and sometime floral. Floral wins out as time goes on.

Taste: Peanut, guava, vanilla, cashew, pepper, coconut flakes

Nutty, oddly at first. Doesn’t line up with the nose right off the bat, however the guava and vanilla is in there as a final bridge.

Earthy and sweet. More of a nutty/coconut flavour here than the nose. Gone completely is the citrus is relied upon, and left is nuts. Nuts everywhere. Which for some of you is a good thing, others… not so much.

Finish: Tangerine, espresso, ladyfingers, orange peel, hickory, grapefruit, brine

And back with citrus, nice earth, good balanced sweets and smoke. Picks up more and more, though goes from the Tiramisu element to a smoked fruit drink.

Which I happen to enjoy.

Conclusion: So I’m glad I was pushed into this one. Frankly it’s an interesting dram with lots of citrus, well developed ex-Bourbon notes, and the quite tasty, complex flavours from the Highlands (coffee, guava, coconut, etc.)

Overall it’s very citrus heavy. Loses some points for that, as it can be a little bit much. That said, not as much as some other whiskies, and not enough for me to stop sipping this. I ended up only having one dram, as I felt any after this may be hard to compare to it.

83/100

Scotch review #689, Highland review #117, Whisky Network review #1150