Loch Lomond 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky (700 ml)

Duncan Thomas built Loch Lomond's distillery in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire in the mid-1960s around a set of straight-neck pot stills fitted with 17 fixed copper rectification plates — a design he had pioneered at Littlemill and that no other distillery in Scotland has ever replicated. That engineering decision is the reason the 12 Year Old exists as it does: the straight-neck stills drive spirit to roughly 90% ABV versus the ~68–70% of conventional swan-neck stills, stripping heavier congeners and producing a lighter, more floral new-make that absorbs oak differently over time.

The distillery sits on the Highland side of the Highland Boundary Fault, just 25 km north-west of Glasgow, on a former Victorian foundry site whose varied brick warehouses and modern racked structures create distinct maturation microclimates. Fermentation runs a minimum 92 hours and up to 160 hours — roughly double the Speyside norm — in 21 stainless steel washbacks, building long-chain esters that underpin the honey-sweet, fruit-forward house character. The 12 Year Old matures entirely in ex-bourbon American oak hogsheads and barrels, which the distillery credits for its vanilla and sweet-honey register. Bottled at 46% ABV, this expression sits above the standard 40% core releases, preserving texture without cask-strength intensity. The special feature: Loch Lomond is the only distillery globally producing both peated single grain and single malt under one roof — the 12 Year Old is the clearest window into what those straight-neck stills alone can do.