Royal Lochnagar Friends of the Classic Malts 2013

Lochnagar was established in 1845 and received its Royal warrant only 3 years later. Named after a nearby mountain, there were predecessor distilleries in the area stretching back to the 1820s, but not on the same site. The distillery was retained by the Begg family until the hard times of the early 1900s, which forced the sale to John Dewar & Sons. Despite some improvements and rebuilds, Lochnagar remains the smallest of the Diageo distilleries, in production terms. However, the distillery is valued by blenders and finds its way into blends such as the Johnnie Walker Blue Label and the export Windsor whisky. That doesn’t leave much time for the single malt market, with special editions occasionally being released or a distillery exclusive being bottled. There isn’t that much Lochnagar to go around which is unfortunate as it works so well with sherry casks thanks to the use of worm tubs, long fermentation and slow distillation.