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Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve

spicy fruity
4.2
(2)€150Scotland, Highland, Single Malt

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited this small distillery in 1848. That royal visit is why the distillery still carries the name Royal Lochnagar today. The stills sit within sight of Balmoral Castle, drawing water from the Scarnock springs nearby. That heritage shows in the glass: honeycomb and dried fruit meet baking spice and cinnamon. A curl of black pepper lingers on the finish. Raisins and sultanas linger under a note of orange peel. It is a small, traditional dram, best poured neat and given a minute to open before you taste.

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About the distillery

Distillery

Royal Lochnagar

John Begg built his distillery on the River Dee in Aberdeenshire in 1845, deep in Scotland's Highland whisky country. He named it New Lochnagar, keen to distinguish it from a rival site across the water that had already burned down twice. Three years later, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert leased neighbouring Balmoral Castle as their Highland retreat. Begg, sensing an opportunity, invited the engineering-minded Prince to tour his works. The Prince turned up the very next day with the Queen and three of their children. Within days the family granted a Royal Warrant, turning New Lochnagar into Royal Lochnagar. The name is a bit of a trick: Lochnagar is a mountain, not a loch, standing guard over the distillery's Deeside home. Diageo still leases the ground from the Abergeldie Estate rather than owning it outright, just as Begg once did. Today Royal Lochnagar remains one of Diageo's smallest distilleries, turning out a rounded, sherried single malt whisky.

4Average rating

10Whiskies on Distilld

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About the Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve

Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve is a single malt Scotch whisky from the Highland region of Scotland. It comes from one of the smallest working distilleries in the country. Royal Lochnagar sits close to Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire. The site has drawn royal visitors since 1848. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the distillery that same year. Their visit earned the distillery its royal warrant. That mark is still carried on every bottle of Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve sold today. John Begg founded Royal Lochnagar in 1845. He chose a site on the hillside just below Balmoral Castle. The distillery still works on a small scale. Two pagoda kilns and an open mash tun draw water from the Scarnock springs. Nothing about the process is rushed. That patience carries through into the spirit itself. It leans toward baking spice, clove, and a warm streak of black pepper. Coffee and tobacco notes sit underneath, giving the dram a savoury edge rather than a purely sweet one. Pour Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve neat and give it a minute in the glass. Honeycomb and orange peel rise first, then dried fruit and a handful of raisins and sultanas. Nutmeg and allspice sit just behind, adding warmth without pushing the sweetness too far. A touch of cream rounds out the middle, softening the spice. Fresh fruit and a note of raspberry keep the whole thing light. The finish is where the malt shows its Highland character, with pepper and a last trace of tobacco. At 43% ABV, this Highland single malt drinks well without needing anything added. Royal Lochnagar Selected Reserve is built for sipping slowly, not for mixing into anything else. Colouring is added for consistency between batches, a common practice among Highland distilleries of this size. What stays constant is the balance of spice and sweetness that runs through every batch. Fans of Highland whisky often overlook it next to bigger names on the shelf. That is worth changing.