This is a rare 1970s bottling of Sandy Macnab’s Old Blended Scotch Whisky. Sandy Macnab’s blend was produced at Lochside distillery and this version contains both Lochside malt and grain whisky (grain whisky production at Lochside was stopped in 1973).
This was bottled at 86 proof (43%), possibly for the European market. .
Our Tasting Notes:
Nose: Old leather bound books. Squashed blueberries. Damp matchboxes. Familiar Lochside orchard fruit note. Gorse bush.
Palate: Fruit salad syrup. Toffee brittle. Pine cones. Green olive skins. Slight waxy element.
Finish: Orange peel that has sat at the bottom of an old fashioned. Fudge and yellow fruits to finish.
Lochside Distillery – Closed
Was it a castle? A whisky fortress? A giant-discoloured-tower-wall-thingy overlooking Montrose? Well, Lochside was perhaps all of those as well as being an excellent Highland distillery in its time.
What most people don’t realise is that Lochside’s iconic design was modelled after a classic German Brauhaus – very fitting considering Lochside was a brewery from 1786 until it was converted into a distillery in 1957.
For a period during its lifetime, Lochside produced both malt and grain whisky and was responsible for coining the phrase ‘blended at birth’ – a process where malt and grain new make is mixed before maturing in oak. This technique was developed for Lochside’s own ‘Sandy Macnab’ blend, until founder Joseph Hobbs died in 1964. It is worth noting that some consider the Sandy Macnab blend to have been one of the finest blended whiskies from the 1960s/1970s.
Unfortunately, after Lochside was incorporated into the Allied Distillers portfolio (now Chivas Brothers), it was quickly deemed surplus to requirements and was mothballed in 1992, with the last bottling taking place in May of that year. The site was then sold to developers, with the distillery warehouses being demolished in 1997.
Tragically, the iconic tower was never registered under monument protection and in 2005 the remainder of the distillery, including the tower was demolished and replaced with a housing estate. A tragic end for an iconic Highland distillery.
This is a rare 1970s bottling of Sandy Macnab’s Old Blended Scotch Whisky. Sandy Macnab’s blend was produced at Lochside distillery and this version contains both Lochside malt and grain whisky (grain whisky production at Lochside was stopped in 1973).
This was bottled at 86 proof (43%), possibly for the European market. .
Our Tasting Notes:
Nose: Old leather bound books. Squashed blueberries. Damp matchboxes. Familiar Lochside orchard fruit note. Gorse bush.
Palate: Fruit salad syrup. Toffee brittle. Pine cones. Green olive skins. Slight waxy element.
Finish: Orange peel that has sat at the bottom of an old fashioned. Fudge and yellow fruits to finish.
Lochside Distillery – Closed
Was it a castle? A whisky fortress? A giant-discoloured-tower-wall-thingy overlooking Montrose? Well, Lochside was perhaps all of those as well as being an excellent Highland distillery in its time.
What most people don’t realise is that Lochside’s iconic design was modelled after a classic German Brauhaus – very fitting considering Lochside was a brewery from 1786 until it was converted into a distillery in 1957.
For a period during its lifetime, Lochside produced both malt and grain whisky and was responsible for coining the phrase ‘blended at birth’ – a process where malt and grain new make is mixed before maturing in oak. This technique was developed for Lochside’s own ‘Sandy Macnab’ blend, until founder Joseph Hobbs died in 1964. It is worth noting that some consider the Sandy Macnab blend to have been one of the finest blended whiskies from the 1960s/1970s.
Unfortunately, after Lochside was incorporated into the Allied Distillers portfolio (now Chivas Brothers), it was quickly deemed surplus to requirements and was mothballed in 1992, with the last bottling taking place in May of that year. The site was then sold to developers, with the distillery warehouses being demolished in 1997.
Tragically, the iconic tower was never registered under monument protection and in 2005 the remainder of the distillery, including the tower was demolished and replaced with a housing estate. A tragic end for an iconic Highland distillery.
