Croftengea 10 Year Old 2006 (cask 5024) - The Cooper's Choice (The Vintage Malt Whisky Co.)

An intense, heavily peated single malt produced by Loch Lomond, at their distillery in the Highlands. This is a single cask bottling of 10-year-old Croftengea, aged in a refill butt cask from March 2006 to 2016. It was bottled by The Vintage Malt Whisky Co. as part of their Cooper's Choice range, with 725 bottles produced. It has an aromatic birth with notes of pink peppercorn, smoky hay & a hint of toffee; while a rich life adds notes of milk chocolate, smoked meats & oily malt; that led to a long death with hints of bonfire embers. November 2017 / August 2022

Nose: Sweet. Smoke, bacon, sweet BBQ, salted caramel. There’s a slight hint of baby sick! Palate: Oily, salt/brine, metallic, charred wood, smoke Finish: Long finish, sulphur matches, fireworks, BBQ meat, metallic and salty. This is better than many of the Loch Lomond whiskies, but there’s a sweaty/BO note that is rather off putting! Croftengea is the heavily peated single malt produced by Loch Lomond Distillery. Distilled: March 2006 Bottled: 2016 Single refill butt 1 of 725 bottles

Nose: Pepper, subtle smoke, caramel Palate: Smoked meats, pepper, slight oiliness Finish: Lingering smoke I really like this even though I don’t get much complexity from it. 6.5/10