CASE STUDY | The Loch Lomond Group
Main picture: The Loch Lomond cooperage, top right, the Loch Lomond 50-year-old and, bottom right, the company’s master blender Michael Henry
“The response has been fantastic.
Everyone who has tasted it has loved it, including the industry’s best known whisky connoisseurs, and the beautiful bespoke chest created by Method Studio it is presented in has also gone down a storm. We only had 60 decanters and they have been actively chased by our distributors, with only a handful leſt to sell – that probably tells you everything you need to know. ”
O
ne of the key men in the Loch Lomond team is John Peterson, seemingly always
dressed in a white lab coat, who I meet on our tour of the plant. He joined Loch Lomond in 1990 and is responsible for production at the distillery, which includes everything from new make distillation, continuous improvements and quality control on all spirits. “The key difference between us and our competitors is our straight necked stills,” he tells me. “They were unique when they were installed in 1966 and they remain unique to this day. Their straight shape gives us greater control over the character of the spirit and enables us to create a variety of flavour profiles. We now have three 12 year old single malts ranging from light and fruity to complex and
22 DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
peated – and these differences are created by the distillation process not by cask maturation.” The person with the best job on site –
arguably one of the best jobs I have ever heard about – is master blender Michael Henry who seems to spend most of his time tasting, drinking and talking about whisky. He tells me: “You can produce brilliant whiskies when you understand how to create flavours through fermentation, distillation and maturation and when you achieve the balance you want between these flavours.”
‘ We now have three 12 year old single malts ranging from light and fruity to complex and peated – and these differences are created by the distillation process not by cask maturation’
And his favourite? “That’s a tough question as my favourites change all the time. I’m really proud of the Loch Lomond 50 Year Old, and I enjoy the Loch Lomond 12 Year Old as I find it particularly well balanced between fruit and a light peat note. I am also partial to the odd Irish pot whiskey; I like the Red Breast 12 Year Old at the moment.” So what’s next for the Loch Lomond
Company CEO Colin Matthews
Group? CEO Matthews is looking to the future with confidence. “We’ve just completed new deals in China, Taiwan, Russia, the US and Australia that will see all of our brands introduced to a much wider audience. It’s very exciting. In the US, which is the biggest Scotch export market by value, we are now partnering with Stoli Group USA to accelerate our growth, especially in key markets such as New York, California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.” Matthews is certainly a man who enjoys his work. “I love my job. Who wouldn’t like being immersed in whisky?” he says. “One of the best things about being part of Loch Lomond Group is that I spend much more time back in Scotland having lived in various places across the world for the last 25 years. I only wish it didn’t rain so much...” n
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