Lochlea Our Barley Single Malt Scotch Whisky

The first ongoing release of Lochlea single malt, Our Barley has been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon, ex-sherry and shaved toasted and recharred (STR) casks to create a complex character. Aromas of pears in syrup, fruit bon-bons, freshly-cut grass and marmalade fill the nose, complemented by notes of golden syrup, black pepper, rye bread, macadamia nuts, orange, cream soda and beeswax throughout the palate. Distillery Notes

Located in South Ayrshire, which is in the Scottish lowlands a 40 minute drive from Glasgow and an hour and a half from Edinburgh. While this may seem like an out of the way place for a distillery, it is 45 miles as the crow flies from Cambletown and 65 miles from the shores of Islay. The distillery was conceived by the current owner of Lochlea farm, Neil McGeoch, who, after getting planning commission approval in 2014, went about converting the existing farm’s centuries old buildings into a condition fit for a 21st century distillery. He was also quite smart about who he put into place for this new distillery: Malcolm Rennie, who was named as the inaugural distillery manager. He had quite a journey in Scotch whisky production before Lochlea with 30 years spent at Bruichladdich, Ardbeg and Kilchoman.

Under his stewardship, the distillery was readied for its start with the first runs of the stills in 2018. Most distilleries love to talk about the source of their water and give somewhat short shrift as to the source of their barley. In the case of Lochlea, they are quite proud of the source for that most core ingredient. It all comes from the 90 hectare farm on which the distillery is located, so the distance from field to distillery is some 150 yards. Rennie chose to set up the distillery with traditional Douglas Fir washbacks and two high necked stills to preserve the spirits lightness. That said, the distillation process has been tweaked to produce young whisky that has a more congener-heavy profile – one that in years to come can spend more time in cask. In 2021, the distillery picked up another titan of the Scotch industry in ex-Laphroaig Distillery Manager John Campbell, who will be leading the commercial operation. As opposed to other distilleries that start with a visitor’s center and a gin years before their whisky is ready for sale, in Lochlea’s case they chose to not even be listed in the Malt Whisky Yearbook until their whisky was bottled and ready for sale. As David Ferguson said when he started selling used Maker’s Mark casks to Malcolm Rennie, he knew he was up to something, but wasn’t sure what it was. Michael Kennel, D&M