Today I visited the Loch Brewery and Distillery in the picturesque village of Loch. The small brewery concentrates on traditional style beers for their core range but also does regular seasonal beers as well. The beers produced are all real ales that are bottle or cask conditioned. Most of the hops used are locally grown.
The beers that I sampled were:
1. County Ale, 4.9% abv, this ale has a deep amber colour and a subtle malt aroma. It has a wonderful full bodied, complex, malty taste with a mild hop finish. Quite delicious.
2. Dark Ale, 4.9% abv, this dark brown ale has a rich chocolate and coffee malt aroma and a lovely roasted malt taste with hints of chocolate and smoke. It has a great smooth and creamy head and texture. It is a very well balanced beer with a subtle hop bitter finish. Fantastic!
3. Best Bitter, 4.5% abv, this golden coloured beer has a great initial malt taste and is very well balanced with a long dry, crisp finish. Just what an ESB should be like.
4. Chilli Dark Ale, 4.9% abv, this uses the dark ale as a base and then has locally grown chillies added. It has a lovely malty initial palate and then a great chilli hot finish that lingers on the tongue. I really enjoyed this one.
Being a distillery as well as a brewery they also have some top Gins available and will also have a single malt whisky available from early 2018 that is presently aging in oak casks.
This is a great little Brewery that is definitely worth stopping into if you are in the area. If not keep your eye out for their beers in selected bottle shops.