Award-winning farm-to-cask distillery Lochlea, in Ayrshire, has unveiled its first ever single-malt whisky matured in stout beer casks.
Limited release Lochlea Stout Cask Finish is a culmination of various cask experiments with Glasgow-based craft brewery Overtone. The brewery are renowned for their range of seasonal beers inspired by the culture of music.
Stout Cask Finish started life the same as Lochlea’s signature whisky, Our Barley, matured in a
combination of former bourbon, STR (scraped, toasted, and re-charred), and Oloroso sherry casks. The spirit was then placed into casks that had previously been loaned to Overtone Brewery to age their stout in for a few months.
The casks — originally from Lochlea before going to Overtone — were delivered back to the distillery, deliciously seasoned with the brewery’s distinctive rich stout beer, and perfect for finishing Lochlea’s floral, fruity Lowland spirit.
The final dram reveals the influence from the stout through a rich nose with hints of all-butter shortbread, tropical fruit, and macadamia nuts, evolving into sweet toffee notes and a delicious toasted barley flavour on the palate. The spirit finishes with a long moreish fruit and cereal flavour.
Non-chill filtered and bottled at 52% ABV, Stout Cask Finish will be available in selected retailers across the UK this winter.
Pushing boundaries
“One of the benefits of Lochlea’s position as an independent distillery is our ability to be experimental and collaborate with other like-minded brands,” said Lochlea’s trade sales manager, Emma Kirk.
“When we discovered Overtone — one of Glasgow’s best craft breweries — were on the hunt for whisky
casks to mature their first ever double mash stout in, we could not turn the opportunity down. Lochlea
gifted the brewery the cask make-up of our core expression, Our Barley.
“On return, our production team filled each stout-seasoned cask with Our Barley for a year. Our distillery team have chosen three casks out of the six. The result is this delicious first stout cask finish ever to be released by us that we are really proud of.”
A spokesperson for Overtone said: “It’s been a pleasure to have this ongoing yearly side-project with a local distillery that’s consistently pushing boundaries and doing incredible things.
“Our collaboration begins with brewing a rich, robust stout, full of roasty goodness, which is then aged in their freshly emptied casks. After about eight months, the barrels are emptied and refilled with their whisky, creating a fascinating blend of flavours.
“I’m excited to see how this partnership evolves in the years to come, and I’m sure craft enthusiasts will enjoy the unique character it brings. We truly value this relationship and look forward to what we can achieve together.”
