Part of the travel retail exclusive Remarkable Stills single malt collection from the Western Highland distillery of Loch Lomond. The collection celebrates the breadth of whiskies that can be created at Loch Lomond. Each expression shines a spotlight on a key element of the distillery’s style. Remarkable Alchemy is characterised as having more pronounced characteristics of ‘apple, brown sugar and swirling smoke’.
Remarkable Alchemy is a marriage of spirit that is distilled in Loch Lomond’s unique straight neck still with a notable amount of peat. This spirit is matured in American oak in three forms – ex-bourbon, refill, and re-charred casks. It is then finished in Columbian oak casks. The straight stills deliver a lighter, citrus and fruit style of spirit which combines with peated smoke.
Loch Lomond distillery is unlike any other as it utilises both traditional swan neck and unique straight neck stills. They also use a variety of yeast strains and extended fermentation times. They take two cuts of spirit (high and low strength) and produce unpeated and peated single malt through the stills. Loch Lomond is one of a handful of Scottish distilleries with a cooperage on-site. However, they are the largest with over 30,000 casks being checked, repaired, or rejuvenated each year. Their cooperage gives full control over cask selection and maturation.
This innovative and imaginative variety of process allows Loch Lomond’s Master Blender, Michael Henry, to create a complex range of whiskies. These have a depth of character within each whisky released.
Loch Lomond is located in the small Scottish town of Alexandria, close to the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, near Glasgow. The first mention of a distillery by the loch was in 1814. However, the current Loch Lomond Distillery dates back to 1965 when it was built by the Littlemill Distillery Company Limited. The current owners, Loch Lomond Group, took over in 2019 when they revived the brand and expanded the range.
Available from global duty free in a one litre bottle Remarkable Alchemy is bottled at 46.8% ABV and without chill filtration. It is priced at £55 and is available through global duty free retailers.
Our Tasting Notes
The colour is deep coppery gold and the nose earthy and savoury with a touch of sweetness. Aromas of milk chocolate ganache and champagne truffles covered in dusty cocoa powder lead the way. Then come dried red apple, dried cranberry and cardomom buns, plus some waxy honeycomb. This evolves into manuka honey with time in the glass. A hint of antique furniture gives a slightly dusty and musty background aroma.
On the palate this whisky is immediately more smoky than the nose suggests. This has a burnt, dusty and earthy edge to it. Underneath sit savoury notes of cocoa powder, bittersweet orange peel and dried lime zest. The overall savoury nature is delicious and feels very grown. Then comes fresh vanilla pod, that dried red apple again and manuka honey with some clove oil and a hint of menthol.
A hint of nuttiness, think of dry toasted walnut especially, develops nicely in the second half of the palate. Notes of crumbly brown sugar and milk chocolate drive the sweetness here too. A gentle and savoury peat smoke sits underneath and has a woody ashy edge. The smokiness wraps around everything and binds all elements together superbly. A dry, oaky quality also appears towards the end,
The finish is long and the savoury notes really take hold now. The menthol returns well, as does plenty of the dusty cocoa. The soft and slightly dirty peat smoke adds a dryness and a mouthwatering peppery heat comes through right at the close.
What’s The Verdict?
The Remarkable Alchemy is much bolder, richer, darker and smokier than anything else in the exclusive Remarkable Stills series for travel retail, However, this is not a smoky whisky in the Islay style. It has a more earthy vibe and this contributes an underlying savoury quality. This, combined with the menthol note, is intriguing and we suspect it comes from the use of Colombian oak. From memory, we have not sampled a Scotch whisky matured in this cask type before and it pushes the liquid in a fascinating direction.
