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”You’re Lossit Little Girl”
Whisky Review # 954
Country: Scotland
Region: Islay
Brand: Lossit - Classic Selection - Styled on long closed distilleries
Bottled by: The Lost Distillery Company, Kilmarnock
Type: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Bottled by: The Lost Distillery Company, Kilmarnock
Type: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Age: NAS
Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 43%
Maturation: Mix of Ex-Bourbon casks and Oloroso and PX-Sherried Wood
Chill Filtration: No
Price Range: US$ 45-60 (July 2022)
Price/Quality Ratio:👍 Okay at around US$ 50
Buying Advice:😐 It's not bad but if you like the profile take the Caol Ila 12 instead
Colour: Golden (Natural Colour)
Nose:
It certainly reminds me of Islay in a way but the Nose of this Lossit is Young and a bit Thin and the Peat is more subdued when compared to such Islay standards as the Ardbeg & Laphroaig 10 years old. The Nose is mostly Sweet but there are some Sour and Salty notes as well. The Sherry Cask influence is limited so I suspect 2nd and 3rd Refill casks. The Alcohol is slightly noticeable. The Nose is not bad but it lacks power.
Main Aromas:
Toasted Barley, slightly Burnt Buttered Toast, Salted Caramel, Coastal Peat, Brine, Cold Campfire Smoke, Green Apple, Nectarine, Lemon, Straw, Milk Chocolate, Dairy, Cooked Vegetables, Mint Tea, Pepper and Leather.
Supportive Aroma Accents:
Burnt Heather, Vanilla, Honey, Orange, Grapefruit, Iodine, Driftwood, Olive Oil, Nuts and Nutshells, Green Banana, Pear Drops, Bacon and Shell Fish on the BBQ, Ginger, Cinnamon and Tar.
Maturation: Mix of Ex-Bourbon casks and Oloroso and PX-Sherried Wood
Chill Filtration: No
Price Range: US$ 45-60 (July 2022)
Price/Quality Ratio:👍 Okay at around US$ 50
Buying Advice:😐 It's not bad but if you like the profile take the Caol Ila 12 instead
Colour: Golden (Natural Colour)
Nose:
It certainly reminds me of Islay in a way but the Nose of this Lossit is Young and a bit Thin and the Peat is more subdued when compared to such Islay standards as the Ardbeg & Laphroaig 10 years old. The Nose is mostly Sweet but there are some Sour and Salty notes as well. The Sherry Cask influence is limited so I suspect 2nd and 3rd Refill casks. The Alcohol is slightly noticeable. The Nose is not bad but it lacks power.
Main Aromas:
Toasted Barley, slightly Burnt Buttered Toast, Salted Caramel, Coastal Peat, Brine, Cold Campfire Smoke, Green Apple, Nectarine, Lemon, Straw, Milk Chocolate, Dairy, Cooked Vegetables, Mint Tea, Pepper and Leather.
Supportive Aroma Accents:
Burnt Heather, Vanilla, Honey, Orange, Grapefruit, Iodine, Driftwood, Olive Oil, Nuts and Nutshells, Green Banana, Pear Drops, Bacon and Shell Fish on the BBQ, Ginger, Cinnamon and Tar.
Palate:
A Young and slightly Rough mix of Sweet, Bitter & Sour notes. The Alcohol is more noticeable at this point. It's not really bad but it tastes a little bit Artificial, Hot and slightly Metallic.
Main Flavours:
Toasted Barley, Salted Caramel, Slightly Burnt Buttered Toast, Green Apple, Lemon, Coastal Peat, Cold Campfire Smoke, Ashes, Milk Chocolate, Nougat, Nuts & Shells, Charred Oak, Mint Tea, Wet Rocks, Cigar Box, Pepper and Ginger.
A Young and slightly Rough mix of Sweet, Bitter & Sour notes. The Alcohol is more noticeable at this point. It's not really bad but it tastes a little bit Artificial, Hot and slightly Metallic.
Main Flavours:
Toasted Barley, Salted Caramel, Slightly Burnt Buttered Toast, Green Apple, Lemon, Coastal Peat, Cold Campfire Smoke, Ashes, Milk Chocolate, Nougat, Nuts & Shells, Charred Oak, Mint Tea, Wet Rocks, Cigar Box, Pepper and Ginger.
Supportive Flavour Accents:
Vanilla, Toffee, Heather-Honey, Grapefruit, Orange, Nectarine, Tar, Iodine, White Wine, Green Bananas, Pear, Floral Soap, Bacon and Shellfish on the BBQ garnished with Fresh Herbs like Rosemary and Thyme, Cinnamon and Leather.
Finish:
Middle-Long, a little Thin, Bitter-Sweet & Ashy. The Bitterness increases somewhat towards the Dry end and the aftertaste is slightly Artificial, Soapy & Metallic. The Alcohol is much more present by now. I find Toasted Barley, Salted Caramel, Toffee, Vanilla, Peat, Cold Campfire Smoke, Ashes, Tar, Iodine, Green Apple, Lemon, Grapefruit, White Wine, Nuts and Nutshells, Charred Oak, Straw, Bacon & Shellfish on the BBQ, Mint Tea, Pepper, Cinnamon and Ginger.
Drinking Advice:
Added Water does not improve this Lossit.
Rating: 82 - Stars on a 1-10 scale: 7.5 (*******1/2)
Nose: 21 - Taste: 20.5 - Finish: 20 - Overall: 20.5
Drinking Experience Neat: Good
Conclusion:
Lossit was founded by Malcolm McNeil near Ballygrant on the Isle of Islay in 1817 as an illicit farm distillery, producing its own Barley and drawing Peat from the bogs. It was the biggest producer on the island in the early days of the Whisky industry until it closed in 1867 as it had become outdated and isolated.
Middle-Long, a little Thin, Bitter-Sweet & Ashy. The Bitterness increases somewhat towards the Dry end and the aftertaste is slightly Artificial, Soapy & Metallic. The Alcohol is much more present by now. I find Toasted Barley, Salted Caramel, Toffee, Vanilla, Peat, Cold Campfire Smoke, Ashes, Tar, Iodine, Green Apple, Lemon, Grapefruit, White Wine, Nuts and Nutshells, Charred Oak, Straw, Bacon & Shellfish on the BBQ, Mint Tea, Pepper, Cinnamon and Ginger.
Added Water does not improve this Lossit.
Rating: 82 - Stars on a 1-10 scale: 7.5 (*******1/2)
Nose: 21 - Taste: 20.5 - Finish: 20 - Overall: 20.5
*** Important Note with respect to Rating.
A few of my loyal readers have pointed out that every once in a while my final Rating note does not seem to be totally in line with the written text. I recognize that. When I started this Whisky Blog back in 2011, I was not at all experienced in tasting and scoring Single Malts & Blends. Looking back I realize that during the early years I probably scored the good Whiskies too low and the not so good Whiskies too high. Ever since the beginning I try to remain consequent in my rating, always comparing the outcome to the rating of comparable whiskies in terms of quality and taste and adjusting the final rating if necessary. This might lead to the discrepancy I mentioned before. It would have been much easier if I would have chosen a simple 1-10 rating since the beginning but after having reviewed 950 whiskies it would not be wise to change the system now. I will however from now on add stars on the 1-10 scale so you will have a better idea of what I thought of the whisky reviewed. Please feel free to comment!
Conclusion:
Lossit was founded by Malcolm McNeil near Ballygrant on the Isle of Islay in 1817 as an illicit farm distillery, producing its own Barley and drawing Peat from the bogs. It was the biggest producer on the island in the early days of the Whisky industry until it closed in 1867 as it had become outdated and isolated.
First of all I like the purpose of this Series created by Scott Watson and Brian Woods of The Lost Distillery Company. Both worked at Diageo before that. It's nice to try and recreate Single Malts from long closed distilleries based on the information still available on the Water Supply, Barley, Yeast and the distilling process. It's not easy to do that I suppose. The Lossit is the second in a series of six that I bought as a Sample Gift package. All with Natural Color indeed and without Chill-Filtration as it was done in the days. So far so good.
The Lost Distillery Company usually uses between 5 and 10 Single Malts to try and recreate the lost distilleries. The Lossit is said to contain some peated BenNevis but I would not be surprised if it contained at least some Ardbeg, Lagavullin and Caol Ila as well.
There's of course no way we can tell if this Blended Malt really resembles the old Lossit Whisky. But The Lost Distillery Company succeeds in creating an acceptable Young Islay Whisky. You should not pay much more than US$ 50 though. My main issue with this Lossit and the Classic Selection so far is that the Whiskies are very Young and Thin. They also release the Archivist and Vintage Selections that contain older Whiskies that matured in better casks. I will certainly try to get some of those as well. If you like this Aroma/Flavour profile, you better go for the Caol Ila 12 Years.
Cheers!
