Loch Dhu 10 Year Old

Labelled "The Black Whisky", this 10-year-old expression is distilled in Mannochmore Distillery, which lies in the heart of Scotland's "Speyside" region. Loch Dhu, which means "Black Lake" in Gaelic, is aged in special, double-charred oak casks to create a whisky as black as night - though it's not so much black as the color of an equal mixture of espresso and blood.

The nose is unique, unexpressive, slight hints of burnt carmel and ashes. The palate is blatantly offensive. There is something unmistakably wrong with it. It tastes like cigar ashes mixed with vodka and licorice. The only nice note is in the background, with some hints of dark chocolate covered espresso beans. But it's the finish that really gets you, actually making me recoil, grimace, and frantically shake my head. It's nauseating. It tastes spoiled. It's unbelivable that it was commercially marketed. One understands at once where the rumor of "a production accident at Mannochmore" came from. If you ever have tasted, say, an old dumpy Cadenhead that sat with a faulty cork for twenty years on a hot, dusty shelf, you know what you are in for. It tastes ruined in the bottle, contaminated.

The Mannochmore Distillery was built in 1971 on the same 25 acre (10 hectare) site as the older Glenlossie (1876). Mannochmore does not utilise a purifier between the lyne arm and condenser. Mothballed in 1985, but re-opened in 1989. It takes its water from the the Bardon Burn high up on Mannochmore hills. Not often available as a single malt, Mannochmore is important to a number of blends, including Haig.

Tasting Notes

REGION: Speyside.
COOUR: Black.
NOSE: Unique - but not very good. Hints of burnt caramel and ashes.
PALATE: Awful! Smoke and ashes. Hints of liquorice and dark chocolate covered espresso beans. Filthy aftertaste.
BODY: ?
FINISH: Nauseating, contaminated.
ABV: 40%