Whisky Evaluation: Loch Dhu 10 12 months Outdated The Black Whisky

The Loch Dhu 10 12 months Outdated The Black Whisky from Mannochmore is a polarising dram. Its deep black shade, which is brought on by extraordinarily giant quantities of spirit caramel, has made this bottle one thing of a collector’s merchandise. 

The tasting evaluations for this bottle differ broadly on-line, with some hailing the whisky as “caramel easy” and a few distinctly commenting on the flavour of burnt caramel. Both manner, we all know that caramel is current. 

Serge Valentin, additionally of WhiskyFun, awarded the Loch Dhu 49 points on his final tasting in December 2004, saying, “the nostril is considerably attention-grabbing, however the palate is catastrophic, actually”. 

Not solely does the whisky have some excessive evaluations, it additionally sits on the forefront of the long-running business debate round the usage of spirit caramel. Spirit caramel, also referred to as E150a, is a supposedly tasteless liquid used to change the colour of whisky. It’s most frequently utilized by blenders to attain shade consistency throughout merchandise. In small portions, it doesn’t affect the style of whisky, however in giant portions, some argue that it might alter the style and mouthfeel of a whisky. 

As such, the talk is break up between whisky purists, who imagine that no components must be added to whisky, and E150a defenders, who argue that components have all the time been a bit a part of the whisky business (resembling paxarette) and that spirit caramel is beneficial to encourage model familiarity and loyalty. 

So, the query is, on which aspect of the talk do you stand? The Loch Dhu 10 12 months Outdated The Black Whisky is, in fact, a really excessive instance of spirit caramel utilization and isn’t consultant of all utilization within the business. Nonetheless, it does supply an perception into what such excessive utilization can do.