I bought this unknown (to me - but not to the single malt crowd) single malt on a whim, liking the name, liking the price - about $25 U.S. maybe a little less - and always looking for a good tasting bargain. My rule of thumb is that there are no bad single malts but in general I have found cheap price usually gives a lower level of satisfaction. However I have found exceptions from time to time. This is on the verge of being one of them, though for my taste it was somewhat too mild, too bland and not enough finish. But still strangely appealing - and many reviewers use basically the same description - oddly different, oddly flavoured, etc. - what I call a great 'Flask' single malt. Even though many reviewers used the words 'sweet' etc I did not find that at all. Most of all I was interested in trying to make the finish longer. After several - 3 or 4 - sippings over a week or so I decided to add about a quarter teaspoon of honey, eight or so drops of lemon juice, and about 15% by volume of Laphroaig to the remaining 750 ml. The result - for my taste - was great, being my tipple of the month with the finish delightfully long, the overtones of peat that some reviewers touted was now truly in place and the overall delight in nuanced flavours was superb . Since I found a great buy on Laphroaig some months ago my total dollar into my semi-blended malt is less than $30 and really is on my list of repeat buys on the Loch Lomond Original Single Malt - score out of bottle about 73 and score with a bit of touch up about 78 to 82. Great bang for my buck.
