8 years old, distilled 17th December 2009, 58.3% abv, Second-Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel, 235 bottles, dram price A

The nose is soft - lime, lemon, and hints of banana bread. The mouthfeel is thin with no cling. The body has lemon, lime, mint leaf, thyme, and a little nougat. The finish is short but sweet - lemon and nougat. After repeated sips pineapple also appears on the palate.

Water brings out thin, rapidly expanding whorling that lasts for some time without ever quite mottling. The nose now gains pineapple and mint leaf, and the lime and lemon are softer. The body gains rhubarb, mango and more of the mint leaf and thyme. The finish gains pineapple and thyme.

A superb summer's day dram. Light, sweet - one to start with, or cleanse the palate.

(Why call this Rosdhu? Because Loch Lomond have two continuous stills. One is configured to run their unique 100% malted barley grain whisky. That uses a wash that's mashed at lower temperatures and the spirit itself is collected at 85% abv, to preserve flavours. The SMWS bottles that as distillery G9. This is from the second still - operated in a more traditional manner, using wheat or maize with a small amount of barley for enzyming, and with the spirit taken off at ~92% abv. It would be confusing to refer to both as Loch Lomond, and my understanding is that some of the traditional grain has been bottled by Loch Lomond themselves as Rosdhu in the past, so I have selected that name to aid clarity.)

Technical score: 4.5/5

Personal preference: I'd like more than one bottle.