December 1, 2015

Intense Longmorns, watch out

I know I’m not the only one who never quite understood why Longmorn wasn’t more ‘pushed forward’, and why the indies almost always had to do all the work (for once, some may add). Such as G&M! For more fun – fun for me that is -, we’ll do it without order again, but let’s start this with a young G&M, which should make for a perfect apéritif…

Longmorn 2002/2015 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, licensed bottling)

What’s good when you keep using old labels, is that you’ll become fashionable again eventually. Fashion is all circles, they say. Colour: gold. Nose: oh, shoe polish! Green tobacco leaves! Mineral riesling! Cough syrup! One style that we enjoy a lot at WF towers, even if this came unexpected. 2002? Are they sure that wasn’t 1952? Mouth: perhaps a little drying, but this surely isn’t modern. Where else, except in Campbeltown, would you find some salted sweet mustard and this much tobacco? Curiously un-round, but very perfect – if you like this super-old style. Even older than the label ;-). Finish: long, sooty, fino-ish. Fried bacon and chocolate. Comments: a surprise, I had thought this baby would be jammy and honeyed. Ha, preconceptions… SGP:362 – 87 points.

Longmorn 30 yo 1984/2015 (56.3%, Silver Seal, sherry cask)

There’s a wonderful panther on the label. Unless that’s a leopard. Or a cheetah. Let’s just hope this incredibly pale sherry-matured old Longmorn doesn’t bite (diving to even lower lows, S.) Colour: white wine. Nose: no sherry, or very, very little, rather a full-bodied mineral and citrusy malt that offers fresh almonds, putty, perhaps a few mushrooms, and then a little chalk and saltpetre, plus various breads. In truth, the age doesn’t show at all. With water: 30 years old porridge! It’s amazing ho close we are to barley, and yet this is fully mature. Only time in action. Mouth (neat): the wonders of refill at great age showcased once again. Exceptionally oily mouth feel, bitter oranges, sunflower oil, green tea, not too ripe bitter oranges, Seville-style (I stole one from a tree last year while down there, and tried to eat it. It served me right), grape and orange pips, green walnuts… You got it, this is splendidly bitter. With water: a totally naked barleyness. Good, it does become a little too austere, to be honest. Finish: medium, with a feeling of… green tomatoes? Comments: any true whisky lover should try this style of old whisky. You’ll almost never see it at any owners’, the last ones having been some of Diageo/UDV’s Rare Malts. A glorious series, bitterly missed. SGP:372 - 89 points.

Longmorn 1997/2015 'Bitter-Sweet Barley' (46% Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 291 bottles)

Actually, my little bottle says ‘Longmore’, does that make it a collectable? Should I keep it closed? Hope they didn’t fire the secretary, that’s funny. Oh and it’s the first time I notice this motto on their label: ‘Je pense’, which means ‘I think’. We Frenchmen would add ‘therefore I drink’. Colour: pale gold. Nose: indeed it is barleyish, but gentler than the others, better polished, more civilised, and rather more on apples. As pies, as tartes, as juice, and as cider. So a little more mundane, perhaps, but the balance is impressive. This is well malt whisky. Mouth: a little creamy vanilla in the arrival, and a rather grassy fruitiness. Green pears and apples, then light honey and some custard. Perhaps a little minimal, in fact. Finish: medium, perhaps a little one-dimensional (no, nothing to do with the band). Barley water, stewed apples, butterscotch. Comments: exactly one whisky that falls into the ‘very very good, but not mindboggling’ category here in WFland. Typical 85 points. So… SGP:451 - 85 points.

Longmorn 24 yo 1990/2015 (53.7%, The Single Malts of Scotland, cask #191954, 216 bottles)

I fondly remember a 1990 19 yo by SMoS. WF 91! Colour: light gold. Nose: what a distillate. It’s a whole, and yet it swarms with all kinds of tiny fruity and oily aromas and fragrances. Kiwis, apples, sunflower oil, putty, gooseberries, shortbread, brioche, barley, leaves… You have to give it your attention, or you may miss many of them, but it rewards you. With water: gets farmier, around hay. Fruit peelings, pollen… Mouth (neat): perfect malt whisky. No sherry, no peat; malt. And brioche, croissants, butterscotch, lemons, oranges, honey, buttered tea, sweet earth… Yeah, it’s the centre of the malty Earth. With water: what we’re usually expecting from unsherried Longmorn: a fruit salad dressed with honey sauce. Finish: medium, with a touch of American oak. Comments: a shame that I haven’t got the 19 at hand, but I think that one was a bit brighter. Anyway, perfect malt whisky for malt freaks who’re not into artificial flavouring. SGP:551 - 89 points.

Longmorn 22 yo 1992/2014 (54%, Adelphi, refill sherry, cask #48509, 250 bottles)

What’s good with Aldephi’s labels is that we can check whether your eyesight isn’t worsening. So far, so good. Colour: deep gold. Nose: it’s one these sherry casks that are a little bourbony, perhaps because contrarily to what many people believe, traditional sherry casks are made out of American oak. So a rounded honeyed and vanilla-ed profile, then ripe apples and cherries. Then a little earth. With water: it gets beehivy, a hit in da house. I utterly adore bees and their products, and guess what, next year I’ll try to distil honey (and yes, first make mead). Mouth (neat): very excellent, with an added citrusness as well as some tropical fruits, coconut, and vanilla. Totally American oak, what’s the trick? With water: really, totally sweet American oak. I don’t even find one single raisin or walnut! Not to mention prunes, or chocolate… No, wait, there is some chocolate, but that would be white chocolate – which isn’t quite chocolate anyway. Oh well… Finish: medium, very honeyed, with a drop of sweet olive oil, Provence style. Comments: just as excellent as the 1990. If this was sherry, it was rejuvenated tenth-fill sherry wood. Not for the worse, it seems. SGP:551 - 89 points.

How many have we had? You say only five??? Let’s go on… Perhaps with this older baby that I always wanted to try…

Longmorn 36 yo 1967/2003 (43%, Mackillop's Choice, cask #3345)

Mackillop had an utterly stunning 1976 a while back (WF 94 – yup). Oh and remember the old adage, crappy packaging, wonderful whisky! Colour: gold. Nose: pah-pah-pah… Honey, olive oil, peeled oranges, pinesap. This is so totally perfect, despite the lower strength, and so extraordinarily close to the old Macallan’s from Macallan’s days, that you almost need a tissue. Makes you cry. Mouth: 43% vol.? Are we kidding? Wouldn’t that be 53% vol.? Mesmerising combination, involving honeys, spearmint, peppermint, tobacco, marzipan, liquorice, roots (gentian, ginseng and the likes), more olive oil, white Alba truffles, a drop of turpentine, crystallised oranges… Well, I haven’t had to resort to maltoporn too often in recent months, but beware, it may be coming! Finish: long, and greener/grassier, which is always fab because that leaves your palate cleaner and fresher (for the next one, ha-ha). Saps. Comments: one of the ugliest labels ever, and one of the greatest Longmorns from the swinging sixties. Please, dear whisky industry, do not break the mould once and for all! SGP:561 - 93 points.

Eenie meeny miny moe …

Longmorn 1971/2009 (57.3%, Spirito Divino)

A wee Belgian bottling from a few years ago. Colour: gold. Nose: I find it curiously shy, I’d have expected a little more from a 1971 Longmorn. There is some honey, some spices from the oak, some apples… But after the Mackillop, it’s getting hard. Death seat effect? So much for ‘random’ sessions. Let’s try water… Yeah that works, there’s more lemongrass, passion fruits, honey… In short a Longmorn that’s a little more Caperdonich. Mouth (neat): oranges, beeswax, honey, tangerines, mangos, peaches… Fresh fruits everywhere. We cannot be against that. With water: yeah nice, a fruit salad, some honey, and quite a dew litres of fruity IPA beer. Not that I have tried many. Finish: medium, citrusy, rather tropical. Honey cake in the aftertaste. Comments: it’s great, it just lacked a little ‘obviousness’ and complexity for a 1971 Longmorn. But agreed, who cares, it’s an old bottling. SGP:541 - 89 points.

And why not another Silver Seal?...

Longmorn 30 yo 1981/2012 (50.3%, Silver Seal, 205 bottles)

From hen Silver Seal’s labels were even more baroque ;-). Colour: light gold. Nose: is there a pattern? We’re back to the first one by Silver Seal, with a grassy, waxy, and vegetal style that’s totally refill, and that wouldn’t let any oaky dullness enter this glory of a whisky. What’s extremely noticeable here is that there are kippers and there is some seaweed, which isn’t very Longmorn, I agree. But this hay, this blond tobacco, and this linseed oil just do wonders. With water: here, there, barley! And rippling fields after a long summer day at the farm and… Oh forget. Mouth (neat): fights and dances, starting with some acidic coffee (perhaps mocha), and going on with oranges, oils, waxes, and more and more cappuccino. Hey, my Italians friends (who own Silver Seal), did you put the barrel under the espresso machine? With water: malty naked perfection. Finish: ditto. Comments: that’s the thing, only time can do this. Never oak, never wine. SGP:461 - 91 points.

I told you maltoporn would come… And since plenty is no plague…

Longmorn 15 yo 1974/1989 (46%, Dun Eideann, cask #85/194-101)

We’re missing this series, sob… Colour: mahogany/coffee, ha-ha! Nose: totally and utterly sherry-monstrous, but with some elegance. More chocolate than in chocolate, more fruitcake than at Christmas, and more prunes than in armagnac. Plus some garden peat, black earth, Corinthian raisins, and walnut wine. It ain’t no use in grubbing it in, I guess. Mouth: totally classic ultra-sherried, mentholated, earthy, prune-y sherry. Exactly what finishings can’t achieve, that is to say full integration. Some adorable oranges keep it fresh, never cloying, never stuffy. Finish: long, with touches of pepper, all for the better. More leather and bacon in the aftertaste. Comments: I’ve not encountered this style since ages. I guess this was a genuine sherry cask! Yeah, or a carefully paxaretted one ;-). Old Macallan quality, not question about that. SGP:552 - 91 points.

Good, how many did we just have? You say nine? Let’s make it to ten and call this a proper tasting session, agreed?

Longmorn 37 yo 1968/2005 (56.9%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #7.34, ‘An absolute stoater’)

What a stoater is, I don’t quite know. But I know what they used to smoke at the SMWS at that time (hey, the statute of limitations has expired!) And no, Google’s not my friend. Colour: reddish mahogany. Nose: chocolate, prunes, blackberry jelly, hay, pipe tobacco, tamarind purée, Spanish ham (you don’t need the details, do you), a touch of walnut liqueur. It’s clear to us, isn’t it. Old-style sherry monster with flying colours. With water: I’d add that it’s getting appropriately humussy and mushroomy. Mouth: old Demerara rum. Port Morant, perhaps. And clove liqueur, more walnut wine, more chocolaty liquorice… And ristretto coffee, cough syrup, all that… In fact it’s so thick that some friends may find it a little tiring. You can’t quite take more than three drops at one time. With water: as often, citrus saves it. Lemons and oranges will cure any whisky. Finish: long, massive. Orangettes! (that’s candied oranges dipped into chocolate, in case you don’t know). Comments: so, what the h**l is a stoater? Me poor Frenchman, me not know subtleties of English language, monsieur madame excusez-moi. SGP:652 - 90 points.

No, really, this wee session is over.

(and thanks mucho Angus and Govert)

Check the index of all Longmorn I've tasted so far

	November 2015
	Favourite recent bottling: Brora 37 yo 1977/2015 (50.4%, OB, Special Release, 2,976 bottles) - WF 95 Favourite older bottling: Glenlochy 39 yo 1965/2004 (46.3%, Jack Wiebers, Old Train Line, cask #706, 194 bottles) - WF 89 Favourite bang for your buck bottling: Kilchoman ‘Loch Gorm 2015’ (46%, OB, 2015) - WF 90

Favourite malternative:
Monymusk 1979 (46%, Moon Import, 10th Anniversary, Jamaica, 1990) - WF 90