Campbeltown Loch Old v Older v New tasting
I picked up two miniatures of the old Campbeltown Loch blended scotch at auction recently for very little money. The first was supposedly bottled in the 1970’s, the second in the 1990’s, and the current day blended malt.
Can we compare the modern day 46% blended malt with the two older 40% blends? Well there is still going to be some Springbank in the mix, so we will have a go!
1970’s Campbeltown Loch – Review
Appearance : Straw (noticeably lighter than the others)
Nose : Creamy vanilla and a touch of honey at first, but plenty of fruitiness in the form of bright, sweet apple and pineapple cubes. A little shoe polish and wax too
Palate : Quite sweet. Fruity sweet and sour lemon, with some bitter bergamot, before the vanilla comes in and gets increasingly creamy. A delightful lemon fizz develops, along with some oak, hazelnut and salt. Towards the finish we get a hint of wood smoke, with continuing lemon fizz and a little apple.
Campbeltown Loch 1990’s – Review
This is apparently 5yo with Springbank and Longrow in the mix
Appearance : Gold
Nose : Creamy vanilla with lots of honey. Sour apple, pear and sweet lemon intermingle, with a touch of bread dough and freshly washed floral linens.
Palate : Sweet lemon and caramel, with vanilla, peppery spice, salt and wood smoke. The bitter wood notes are a little dominant at times, but not terrible at all. A creaminess takes over, along with orchard fruits. Fairly short finish.
Campbeltown Loch Blended Malt – Review
Appearance : Light Gold
Nose : Vanilla cream and porridge, with buttery pastries, sweet lemon and sour apple. Furniture polish, salt, earthy peat and farmyard silage.
Palate : Sweet vanilla, lemon, grapefruit and wood smoke, with salty, bbq’d meats bringing a savouriness which balances well. A creamy, malty, nuttiness develops, and the peat lets itself known again with delicate wood smoke. A creamy citrus finish, with more light smoke, chopped nuts, apple peels and salt.
Conclusions : The 1970’s blend is the winner, followed by the modern day blended malt and 90’s blend. All 3 are good, but the 70’s blends tropical fruits and that lemon fizz on the palate won the day for me. The two blends were surprisingly similar to the current blended malt, but there was more of that modern day funky Springbank DNA in the blended malt. Perhaps that is due to a lack of grain content, or maybe the character has changed slightly over the years.
