Burns Night is just days away, and so time is running out to prepare for the occasion.
The annual celebration, which sees Scots all over the world honour the life and work of Robert Burns, takes place on January 25. A major part of Burns Night is a traditional Burns supper, of which whisky is unsurprisingly an important element.
As reported by the Daily Record, experts at The Whisky Shop recently named the “best Burns Night whiskies” to toast the poet. One of the malts singled out by the experts was Our Barley by Lochlea Distillery.
The distillery is part of the family-owned Lochlea Farm, situated in the heart of Ayrshire. It distils and matures its own single malt whisky using barley grow and harvested on the farm.
Lochlea Farm is notable for being where Robert Burns lived and worked from 1777 until his father’s death in 1784. According to Lochlea, Burns “worked hard on the farm” and toiled the same soil that is now used to grow the distillery’s malting barley.
The award-winning Our Barley is a single malt expression, and was the first single malt to join Lochlea Distillery’s core range. It has been matured in ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks, and bottled without any added colour or chill filtration.
Accoridng to Lochlea Distillery, the whisky has aromas of pear syrup, fruit bon bons, warm cut grass, and marmalade. It also has initial palate notes of golden syrup, pepper, rye bread, macadamia nuts, cream soda, and a “long finish with a lasting orange beeswax note”.
Production Director at Lochlea John Campbell said: “We use first fill Bourbon barrels, STR’s and Oloroso Sherry butts to complement the signature Lochlea flavours. The use of these casks gives Lochlea Our Barley extra creamy, fruity notes to create a rounder and deeper flavour profile.”
While Our Barley cannot be purchased directly from Lochlea Distillery, it is available from a number of retailers across Scotland and the UK. The whisky can be bought for £48 through The Whisky Shop or £45 from The Wee Dram, while the full list of stockists can be found on the Lochlea website.
Commenting on Our Barley, the experts at The Whisky Shop wrote: “Based in the heart of Burns Country, Lochlea Distillery opened in 2018 on the very farm where Robert Burns lived and worked from 1777 to 1784. ‘Our Barley’ is Lochlea’s first ever core single malt expression, made using barley grown on their own land.
“The liquid was matured in both ex-bourbon, ex-Oloroso sherry casks, and barriques which were shaved, toasted and re-charred, making it a complex and classy dram. Aromas of pear, boiled sweets, fresh cut grass and orange peel before a peppery palate of macadamia nuts and baked rye bread, finishing up long, orangey and waxy.”
For more information about Our Barley, visit the Lochlea website. Meanwhile, the full list of the “best Burns Night whiskies” can be found on The Whisky Shop.
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