Lochlea Our Barley Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Feels young, rough and unbalanced

A great young whisky whose young age is absolutely unnoticeable. Makes you want to more !!!

Yes, a lovely grassy Lowland character with citrus zest and a touch of vanilla. Perhaps a bit young, but already quite tasty. A few more years and it'll be something special.

A bright and mineral-driven whisky, combining fresh citrus with subtle sweet and creamy notes. (Body: 54/100)

Nice, for a first ever core release. But there is room for improvement. There is no oak. It needs more years.

Colour gold. For being so young (3 years old) a really good result. Initially I didn't appreciate him, but as the minutes went by he became more robust and decisive, showing great personality. Clearly there is a lack of complexity and the sensations are all about malt and barley, but this is not said to be a bad thing.

19+ 19+ 19+ 19+ 78 quite pleasant young malt whisky with good potential! Let's wait for it to grow up!

Still young and out of round, has potential for improvement! The nose is the best part!

Very competent despite his youth. The ex-sherry portion of the vatting is really powerful. Within the lowlanders, aspiring to one day be a Bladnoch. Predominant notes: rose water, chocolate powder. Complexity: medium. It's not solid yet, but it's very promising. 80 - 82 | good

Floral and promising but really too young with a biting dilution.

2+8+10+5+50

Nose 83: fruity with mainly pear, a side of candy and cinnamon. Taste 84: sweetness with sweet spices and malt. Finish 83: both spicy and creamy with notes of orangettes. Young whisky, well constructed and pleasant. To be continued.

Soft, sweet, malty and a little citrus. Despite the 46 percent alcohol, quite weak on the tongue, with a short finish.

N: shy, dough, washed clothes, grassy, a hint of rotten flowers, lemon cake. P: sweet but with slight grassy bitterness, twigy, vanilla, custard, lemon curd, malty freshness, lemon peel. F: a hint of tropical fruits, dusty grains. I don't know what was the impact of this barley, but the whisky is really solid.

Yellow fruit, orchard fruits, pepper, vanilla, tastes more like shochu, not very pleasant

Amongst new distilleries, this shows promise. A nice profile with a good balance between spirit and cask influence. It is of course too young at this stage, and doesn't offer more complex or lingering impressions. Along with the likes of Wolfburn and Nc'Nean, probably one to watch.

I suspect when the distillry is confident of it's DNA it will produce some decent whisky - the assortment of casks used have produced a trifle of a dram. Wait until there is a single cask product - this is a dram to add a mixer and have as a cocktail.

Sweet, spicy, more green notes - not one of my favorite profiles, but executed elegantly enough that I like it. The price is OK. I'm excited about the older bottlings. 84/100.

Sweet delicious easy sipping dram , I love this, my lowland favourites are Lindores Abbey Thiron and Bladnoch Liora but this out performs both to become my numero uno … give it a try when your Clynelish is just too complicated and you need a sweet easy sipper .. love it.

Quite dry and alcoholic initially however sweet barley notes come through in time. Light sweet and sour. Good lowland representative. Lacks a bit in complexity. N- defined barley malty, vanilla. T- Sweet, honey, malty barley, vanilla’s, peaches, F- honey slight white pepper

Pears, pepper, more orchard fruits, malt, vanilla, grape skin, lemon. It's clearly young, but the nose is very pleasant and the palate opens up nicely with a few drops of water. Very promising.

Whisky has a lot to offer young people. But of course it can't show any mature complexity yet. It will be exciting to see what will come from Lochlea in the future when the whiskys have matured.

Similarly malty as Plow First Crop, a little worse, sherry noticeable when there is not enough in the glass

A good summer whisky, but too straightforward for me, there is no surprise in the taste.

First impressions: I basically agree with aboutWhisky. Just a fantastic whisky. The potent dirty farm notes are just amazing, reminds me of non other than Ben Nevis 10: potent, smelly, dirty, farmy. It also reminds me of Springbank, Glen Scotia, King's Inch and Teaninich. Outstanding and complex aroma, pleasant and interesting taste, and a decent finish. Strong in every way. Tons of personality, actually f*cking wild, so not for everyone. It is obviously not sophisticated and very rough and bold, and i love it that way. Very promising. I prefer this one over the Sowing Edition (only ex-bourbon casks). Both are fantastic, and the Sowing one allows you to directly taste the spirit, which is very nice... but this one feels like a complete and finished product. And, at least for me, the wild dirty farm notes, that are the reason I keep coming back to it, are stronger and really well complemented with the casks notes, making them stand out and shine. > Final review: Lochlea Distillery, located in the Lowlands, is a young and independent distillery founded in 2018. Located on a historic farm (associated with Robert Burns?), Lochlea combines traditional farming with modern methods to craft a whisky that highlights its agricultural roots, similar to efforts by distilleries like Raasay, Ballykeefe, Waterford, and Daftmill. The barley is grown on the very same farm, and this bottle, like all these first releases, tries to embodies the distillery's philosophy: a vibrant, unpretentious whisky designed to showcase the sweet, fresh, and farm-driven notes of their distillate. Aroma: Extremely fresh, sweet, and fruity. Two notes dominate above all else: Irish whisky-like fruity candy (gummies, sweets, hard candy, jelly, etc.) and strong farmy barley notes (muesli, popcorn, beer). Floating between the barley and hard candy, you can find multifruit yogurt, flowers, clove, wild honey, metal, orange, apricot, and vinegar. It is rough—very young. Taste: A continuation of the aroma: very sweet, grainy, and spicy, with some bitterness and citrus sharpness. The cereal feels more grassy, earthy, and vegetal (eucalyptus, anise, freshly cut grass), while the candy is cloyingly sweet, with an artificial and metallic edge that reminds me of the alcohol in liquor-filled chocolates. Additionally, you can find plenty of sugar barley, copper, licorice liqueur, bitter wood, multifruit juice, orange peel, nutmeg, ginger, dates, and mango. Slightly salty and… the subtlest hint of peat? The young alcohol bites. Very alcoholic. Finish: On a metallic, artificial background reminiscent of breath mint candies, it leaves a cloyingly sweet aftertaste of unripe fruit (melon, apple), sugary cornflakes, toasted almond, ginger, pepper, and lemon candy. Dry and sharp. Thoughts: It is an intense, spirit-forward whisky. As complex as a 3–5-year-old whisky can be. A peculiar and promising profile: very farmy and bready, reminding me of Ben Nevis and King’s Inch (or rice wine); also very candy-like, with many candied fruits leaning tropical, similar to Kilbeggan, GlenAllachie, or Penderyn. Metallic nuances are everywhere. The aroma is notably floral and perfumy. It’s clear that the overall profile is entirely intentional and that effort was put into achieving it. Despite being quite peculiar, the profile is neither overly unusual nor challenging. It has a lot of personality. A much more mature version of this whisky could work quite well; but as it stands, this bottle at least accomplishes its purpose: to show the wild and dirty farm notes from the sweet distillate, really well complemented with the cask notes, making them stand out and shine.

Not bad, lemon and a chalky note, fresh apples, white grapes, it adds a little depth. Grass cut in the rain, the tide, an earthy touch. Candied fruit, angelica and apricots, it's creamy. Steamed cereals. Hint of vanilla. Caramelized puffed rice. Light and tangy on the palate, lychees, Comice pear, quince, cashew nuts, subtle spices, paprika. Porridge. Long and ample finish, woody, a little oily. Barley, honey and beetroot. Dry sand, Landes pine. Chestnuts. Peanut and almond cake. It's delicate, subtle, with cereals, candied fruit, a touch of minerality; it's really well done. But it's light. https://ilikesky2020.blogspot.com/2023/10/lochlea-our-barley.html

Well done for a young single malt. You can find out more about my impressions here: https://fosm.de/tasting-lochlea-our-barley/

Colour? yellow gold. He smells like a sack of oats. lots of grain, in the background grapes, some alcohol, little barrel. In terms of taste, it develops well. Now come the woody notes. All quite young, but fine. He sticks with those floral, tart notes. Delicious!

All over a nice dram for such a young whisky. I always ask myself would I buy me a bottle? Little to sharp for me so no. Not bad at all but not my thing, promising when longer matured whiskies are brought to the market.

I find myself carried off on various side-quests during the main campaign of trying to get my head round the entirety of whisk(e)yland. New Scotch distilleries have been a rewarding path to wander down because, as a group, they're working really hard to bring something new and worthwhile to the marketplace. For the most part, presented honestly, with a view to ecological responsibility and barring a few exceptions (looks at Daftmill), right in the price range that I can afford. It makes me want to like them. Wolfburn, Kingsbarns, Raasay, Torabhaig, Lindores, Glasgow - I've found something to enjoy from all of them. I'm saving Daftmill and Ardnamurchan for last, but before I finish with those, I thought I'd get into the Our Barley: Lochlea's most available expression. And surprise, surprise, I like this too. It has a distinctive musty, rustic feel to it that works really well and sets it apart with a savoury core to the nose, that lets the sweetness of cereal and fruit dance around it, rather than dominate. Very well rounded although it becomes less so as it progresses. The palate has that now familiar density that I've begun to recognise as the STR influence, with more of the malted savoury grains continuing and a healthy dose of zingy spices. Not hugely complex, but tasty and moreish. The tail brought well integrated milky coffee and cocoa bitterness that was only briefly present before rounded honey and quinine quickly enter and exit. A bit burlier than your stereotypical Lowlander, but good stuff and a solid entry into the arena of talented rookie distilleries.

A huge disappointment for me. Youthful, with an omnipresent alcohol content. Very faint bright fruit notes and a tiny hint of fudge. In the mouth, a youthful, metallic sharpness immediately follows.

Fruity in the nose, just as in the taste; but no complexity; the youthful sharpness can still be clearly felt on the tongue and palate. The direction seems to be clearly on the light fruity side. Too young at the moment; In a few years it will certainly be more interesting. It's just very one-dimensional... in my opinion, other young distilleries do it better (with the exception of GlenWyvis, who in my opinion exaggerate the sour aromas). Just too young at the moment; Sample is enough for now. [81 - 78 = 'ok' whisky -> but do I need a whole bottle?]

An interesting choice of casks gives this young malt a whole range of different aromas. Especially in the nose, the different barrels play great together with constantly changing impressions. I really like the different fruits on the tongue. For my taste, the bitterness of the barrels is almost too much of a good thing. The departure is also somewhat one-dimensional due to the young age. However, there is plenty of potential! https://www.aboutwhisky.de/tastingnotes/lochlea-our-barley/

That's a pretty good new make with a bit of vanilla and sherry notes and it has a great potential. But right now it's more expensive than Royal Lochnagar 12 yo and that's insulting. You do not want to drink a bottle of it

Young but well made. Fruity - Malty

Color - medium yellow, radiant gold, very streaky on the glass; Nose - malty-sweet, wood, smells not so young, overripe tropical fruits; Taste - significantly younger than in the nose, still clearly malty-sweet, quite mild and oily in the mouth, a bit of vanilla; Finish - sharp at the back of the tongue, the malty sweetness lingers for a long time

fruity, malty in all aspects. Good entry level dram.

Aroma: light fruits, citrus. The citrus fruits remain in the taste, but are overlaid by a distinct spiciness that recedes in the finish.

S 6 Medium leg. A very average, quaffable whisky with no sparking point even with multiple robust casks. Is it the strength? The age? The cask activeness? [71-77] Worth a try. N 25 At first, it can be quite astringent, but flavours, especially those from Sherry, gradually unfold as it breathes. Fresh loaf. Dry fruit bits. Strawberry jam. Wood bitterness. More vanilla and honey are coming out from the background. Soft spices. P 23 Way less sweet than expected. Warm and delicate. Toasted malt. Mild honey. Buttery oak. black pepper, cardamom. A touch of wood dryness. Fresh, crispy orchard fruits (red apple, yellow pear). F 23 Short-mid, slightly dry finish. Mild spices and fresh loaf. A hint of fruits wax lingering.

combo of 4 and 5 year old casks. great stuff for such a young whisky.

Bitter. Strong pear. Poorly integrated alcohol

Simpler but quite full whisky. I probably wouldn't need the bottle, but I like how intense it can be. Sweet fruity.

81+

It has a relatively high viscosity and a moderately intense bouquet. I detect aromas of vanilla, crème brûlée, citrus, shortbread, hay, and honey sweetness. Not particularly complex. A good balance between sweetness and dryness in terms of taste. The alcohol is well integrated, and it has a relatively heavy body.

An approachable whisky for all occasions, uncomplicated yet complex. Simply pleasant to drink without any frills. Always at the front of the bar.

It is fruity and sweet on the tongue. Lots of grain and even more pears. These are wonderfully dominant. The finish is slightly bitter and not very long. A really strong statement for a 3-year-old. A distillery that I will certainly keep an eye on.

Sweet barley taste

Aroma Sweet, vanilla, cherry The taste Cherry, sweet, alcohol sharpness aftertaste Medium length, sweetish, spicy, ginger spiciness

Color: Gold Character / Style: Mild & Fruity Tasting: 2022-09-02

Lovely dram

Sample von Whic.

Still young, but good approach.

For it's age it's very good, but it's still young

Different, surprisingly!

a

I was really excited to see what the young distillery can conjure up. Either the malt is too young for me or it just doesn't hit my nerve. In my subjective opinion, this is not yet a competitive product in the price range. But feel free to form your own opinion.