Longmorn 23 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2016) 70cl

Longmorn 23 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2016) 70cl

An exceptional 23 year old Longmorn, a distiller known for its incredible aged whisky.

Released in 2016, this is the oldest release of Longmorn in the core range. Aged for 23 years, this is rich and complex, with a nose of Jamaican ginger cake and toasted malt with a palate of melon and apple. To finish, subtle pepper and full-bodied vanilla. Complex, rounded and effortlessly long.

Aged for 23 years in a carefully curated selection of barrels and hogsheads. This rare single malt balances tasting notes of hazelnut praline and luscious toffee with delicate citrus and poached pears for a sweet and smooth finish.

This single malt Scotch whisky from Speyside was given 23 years to develop its solid, soft character in traditional oak barrels and also to develop fine facets that make it a multifaceted whisky overall. Thanks to the long rest period, it can be bottled at cask strength. The distillery does not use chill filtration. If you like it charming and classy at the same time, you have come to the right place.

TASTING NOTES

Color: Rich amber.

Aroma: A wonderfully gentle bouquet unfolds on the nose, with sweet notes of vanilla and caramel. This is accompanied by nuances of milk chocolate and honey.

Taste: A pleasantly soft texture on the palate with a fruity flavor composition.

Notes of ripe pears meet the full aroma of sweet apples. This combination is skilfully complemented by spicy ginger cake.

Finish: The finish brings out the sweet aromas of the bouquet once again, so that it ends with a soft and very special aftertaste.

About Longmorn

Longmorn has quietly provided a sweet and deeply fruity component to a multiplicity of blends since its founding. Its ferments are long, the distillation takes place in eight thick-necked stills, giving a make which is weighty enough to age well in both ex-Sherry and ex-Bourbon

Longmorn has been available as a single malt since the launch of a 15-year-old in 1993, a bottling which sported a slightly fantastical label showing the distillery nestled in the midst of rugged peaks – it’s on the flatlands near Elgin.

This was replaced by an extravagantly packaged 16-year-old in 2007, but the needs of blenders have meant that, even with increased production, the vast bulk of Longmorn is ring-fenced, with a single-cask offering part of Chivas Brothers’ Cask Strength series. It is, thankfully, a regular sight on independent bottlers’ lists and, deservedly, has built up a cult following, particularly in Japan.

Longmorn was built by one of the 19th century’s most interesting whisky entrepreneurs, John Duff. He was born in Aberchirder, worked at GlenDronach, and after designing nearby Glenlossie in 1876, headed to South Africa to try and start a whisky industry there. He failed (as did most, until very recently) and headed to the US to try his hand there. Knocked back once more he returned home and, undeterred, built Longmorn in 1893. Five years after he built another plant next door – Benriach.

It was not an ideal time to build two new plants and in 1899 he was forced to sell to James Grant. Although Duff’s business was not sound, his whisky was and by the start of the 20th century Longmorn was a prize malt, used in a variety of blends including VAT 69 and Dewar’s. In 1920, the young Masataka Taketsuru, one of the fathers of Japanese whisky and founder of Nikka, spent a short period working in the distillery. The stills at Nikka’s two distilleries are said to be modelled on Longmorn’s.

In 1970, the Grant family and blender Hill Thompson (which had a long relationship with Longmorn) merged with The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd to create The Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd. This was bought by Seagram in 1977 and (minus Glen Grant) is now part of Chivas Brothers.

48% ABV

70cl