Lochside

Translation: area by the lake
Region: (Eastern) Highlands

Is not it? There are.

A "single blend" - what should that be? Actually something that does not exist in Scotland. Because a blend is made of different whiskeys, malt and grain, "mixed". Whereas a single comes from only one distillery. And yet, the long-closed Lochside Distillery was able to offer an exotic one-off called Single Blend. Because for a short time grain and malt whiskey was produced unusually in the distillery and put into the barrel together. Two different whiskeys - but from one and the same distillery. The result, the Lochside Single Blend, is unfortunately so rare that only a few are allowed to try it. Too bad.

A little history

The Lochside Distillery described here is not to be confused with the distillery of the same name, which stood between 1830 and 1852 in Campbeltown.
The new Lochside distillery was founded in 1957 by Josef Hobbs in the village of Montrose in the eastern Highlands. For this purpose, Hobbs had the decommissioned Deuchars brewery rebuilt, which had been built at the beginning of the 19th century. Initially, Lochside produced Grain Whiskey. Later, in addition to the tubular Coffey Still used for this purpose, four traditional pot stills for the production of malt whiskey were also installed. Lochside was the only distillery that could offer a "single blend". So a whiskey that contains malt and grain from a single distillery. Grain production was discontinued after some time.
In 1973, the Spanish company Destilerias y Crianza del Whiskey (DYC) took over Lochside. The distillery was closed in 1992 and sold to Allied Domecq in 1994. In 1999, they first demolished the warehouse, and finally the remaining buildings in 2005.

What do I actually have in the glass?

Soft, round and balanced? No. The Lochside malt has a rather unusual character. Sometimes powerful to spicy, sometimes rather fleeting, different impressions stand side by side: plum, vanilla, chocolate, currant, spices, oak ... exciting.

3 reasons to love Lochside

1) Because this distillery was unique.
2) Because you do not have to please everyone.
3) Because the distillery looked like a defiant old castle.

The one drama for the lonely island

To get one of the exotic Lochside Single Blends is meanwhile almost impossible and only with high financial cost conceivable. The few bottlings date from the 60s. Among the - also no longer easily available - Lochside malts are the powerful, pure bottlings from the Raw Cask series by Blackadder particularly interesting.

numbers and facts

Address: (former) Brechin Road, Montrose, Angus DD10 9AD
Founded: 1957 by Josef Hobbs
Status: demolished
Owner: (last) Allied Domecq
Capacity: former annual production unknown
1 Coffey still
2 wash stills (20,000 l)
2 spirit stills (20,000 l)
Water: (formerly) own groundwater well on the site
Visitor Center: -
Telephone: -
Website: -