Loch Lomond
A Highland distillery near the southern tip of Scotland’s best-known loch, built in 1964 to make many styles of whisky under one roof: fruity single malts, soft-smoke peated malts and a single grain made from malted barley.
Read the story ↓
- Founded
- 1964
- Region
- Highlands, Scotland
- Owner
- Loch Lomond Group
- Style
- Fruit, honey, soft smoke
- Signature
- Straight-neck pot stills
- In our shop
- 21 in stock · 22 listed
01 · Loch Lomond
The story
Loch Lomond Distillery stands in Alexandria, on the River Leven, a few minutes from the southern shore of the loch. It was founded in 1964 by the owners of nearby Littlemill, a distillery dating from 1772, together with the American firm Barton Brands, and production started soon after.
From the start it made an unusual choice: pot stills with tall, straight necks fitted with plates, a design first tried at Littlemill. Depending on how the stills are run, the distillers can make a light, fruity spirit or a richer, oilier one from the same copper.
The distillery closed in 1984, in a hard decade for Scotch. A year later Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse bought it, brought it back to life, added stills and, in 1993, a Coffey still. Loch Lomond became one of the very few places in Scotland making both malt and grain whisky on one site.
In 2014 a management buyout created the Loch Lomond Group, which also owns Glen Scotia in Campbeltown and the Littlemill name; the investment firm Hillhouse Capital has owned it since 2019. Since 2018 Loch Lomond has been the Official Spirit of The Open, golf’s oldest championship, and the range now runs from easy-going single malts to rarities aged 30, 47 and 50 years.
02 · Loch Lomond
How it’s made
Almost everything happens on one site in Alexandria. That is why one distillery can make so many different whiskies.
Fermentation
Long fermentations build fruit into the wash before it ever reaches the stills.
Straight-neck stills
Plates inside the tall necks let the distillers choose a lighter or a heavier spirit. Loch Lomond’s fruit, and its softer style of peat, come from here.
A Coffey still for malt
Single grain is usually made from wheat or maize. Loch Lomond makes its single grain from 100% malted barley, in a Coffey still.
Its own cooperage
One of the few Scottish distilleries with a cooperage on site, repairing and re-charring its own casks, mostly American oak.
03 · Loch Lomond
House style
Fruit first, then honey, then a soft wisp of smoke.
Fruit
Orchard fruit, pear and citrus, from long fermentations and the straight necks.
Honey
Sweet vanilla and honey from American oak.
Soft smoke
Peated spirit from the straight-neck stills gives a rounder, gentler smoke than the Islay style.
04 · Loch Lomond
Key moments
- 1964Founded in Alexandria by the owners of Littlemill.
- 1984Production stops, in a hard decade for Scotch.
- 1985Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse buys and restarts the distillery.
- 1993A Coffey still arrives: malt and grain under one roof.
- 2014A management buyout creates the Loch Lomond Group.
- 2018Loch Lomond becomes the Official Spirit of The Open.
05 · Loch Lomond
The range at whisky.ad
Every Loch Lomond bottle in our shop, with a line on each. Click a name to see the bottle.
Single malts
- Loch Lomond OriginalSmooth and easy, the house style at its simplest.
- Loch Lomond 10 Year Old Limited EditionA limited-edition ten-year-old, bottled at 40%.
- Inchmurrin 12 Year OldFruit and sweetness, from three types of American oak cask.
- Inchmoan 12 Year OldThe peated twin: straight-neck and traditional stills, soft smoke.
- Loch Lomond 14 Year OldAmerican oak, then French Limousin oak for spice.
- Loch Lomond Steam & FireFinished in heavily charred American oak.
- Waypoint 16 Year Old Falls of FallochFrom the Waypoint series, named after the falls north of the loch.
- Loch Lomond 18 Year OldBaked apple and toffee, with a light smoke at the end.
- Loch Lomond 21 Year OldThree spirit styles, two of them peated, all in American oak.
Old & rare
- Loch Lomond 25 Year OldA quarter of a century in oak, bottled at 46%.
- Loch Lomond 30 Year OldThe flagship: half of it finished in first-fill oloroso casks.
- Waypoint 31 Year OldA rare 31-year-old from the Waypoint series.
- Loch Lomond 47 Year Old Remarkable StillsFrom the Remarkable Stills series, a tribute to the straight-neck stills.
- Loch Lomond 50 Year OldOne of the oldest whiskies the distillery has released.
Single grain & blend
- Loch Lomond Single Grain100% malted barley from a Coffey still: light and fruity.
- Loch Lomond Peated Single GrainHeavily peated malted barley, Coffey-distilled.
- Clansman (1 L)A blend of the distillery’s own grain and malt whiskies.
Noble Rebel blended malts
- Noble Rebel Orchard OutburstThe fruit-led one, from ex-bourbon casks.
- Noble Rebel Smoke SymphonyThe peated one of the trio.
- Noble Rebel Hazelnut HarmonyThe sweetest and roundest, from toasted American oak.
Also at whisky.ad
In our shop: 21 in stock · 22 listedFind them in the shop →
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