Whisky Tasting, Loch Lomond, Scotland

It was a pleasure to be asked to head to Loch Lomond to host a whisky tasting on Friday night last week where 200 guests arrived from all over the world for a drinks reception at the beautiful Rossdhu House at Loch Lomond Golf Club, as part of a 3 day destination wedding at this wonderful venue.

We decided that we would present four different Scotch whiskies each of a different flavour profile so as to guide our guests through a wee journey around Scotland. We provided all of the glassware for the whisky tasting at Loch Lomond.

Our tasting was very informal and whilst the guests enjoyed music from a live local traditional band they would join us for a chat about all things Scotch whisky and to learn a few facts about the history of Scotch, and how it makes the incredible journey from field to table.

The Whiskies at Rossdhu House, Loch Lomond

During our whisky tasting we presented the following whiskies:

Auchentoshan Three Wood Lowland Single Malt Whisky, Auchentoshan Distillery, Clydebank, Glasgow.

I particularly wanted to present this whisky as it is a local dram from just down the road in Glasgow. This is an extremely approachable dram. The spirit produced at Auchentoshan Distillery is triple distilled in the traditional lowland and Irish style making it incredibly light and fruity. This spirit is then matured in three different types of cask, American Oak, Pedro Ximenez sherry casks and oloroso sherry casks making the resulting dram wonderfully rich, sweet and very enjoyable indeed.

Glen Garioch 12 year old Highland Single Malt Whisky, Glen Garioch Distillery, Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire.

When I host my Guided Speyside Distillery Experiences for groups of visitors each year I always like to stray out of Speyside a little to take them to this awesome, historic and beautiful distillery in Old Meldrum. The owners are investing heavily in the distillery and have recently reinstated the old traditional malt floors. The 12 year old expression is bottled at 48%abv and is a heafty, fruity dram with honey and pears on the palate with growing oloroso sherry influence on the finish.

Bunnahabhain 12 year old Islay Single Malt Whisky, Bunnahabhain Distillery, Islay.

I present a whisky from Islay in the vast majority of my tastings as I have lived and worked there for many years and it is very close to my heart indeed. Rossdhu House sits near to the road that I have travelled on thousands of occasions to and from the Islay ferry terminal at Kennacraig an Islay dram was to be a definite in this flight of whiskies. Bunnahabhain 12 year old is matured almost exclusively in ex oloroso sherry casks and I always describe it as Christmas Day in a bottle. It is all about raisins, coffee, cinnamon and rich sweetness alongside maritime notes which are the result of the casks being matured on the shores of the sound of Islay. As the Angel’s Share of evaporated alcohol leaves the breathing cask, the air it is sucked back in, sometimes having a wonderful influence on the whisky. Provenance, placeness and terroir is something I place a lot if importance in and it is what, for me, makes a single malt whisky good.

Fraoch Mointeach Edition XIV Blended Scotch Malt Whisky

I presented a Blended Scotch Malt Whisky from the Moorland Distiller which was very well received indeed. This whisky was the result of a marriage of two casks of heavily peated spirit from two iconic distilleries both from a place famous for making smokey whisky. The bottles were individually numbered and signed by the bottler. The labels were something very different indeed. The illustration for the label was designed by Matthew Sharp of Dr Curly’s Toothbrush illustrations using nothing but a toothbrush. This whisky was also bottled at 100 proof AKA 57%abv and so made for a fine end to the tasting.

Would You Like a Whisky Tasting at Loch Lomond?

If you would like us to host a whisky tasting in Loch Lomond either at an event or on boat on the loch itself, or anywhere else in the UK please complete the form below and we will get back to you very quickly. Alternatively give David a call on 07875 405 980 for more information or to check availability.