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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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April 29, 2025 |
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The Time Warp Sessions,
today Longrow IB vs. OB |
The Limburg Whisky Fair is always a chance to discover old bottlings we've never come across before – even in over twenty-five years. It's always quite surprising, and I reckon the most important word at Limburg isn't ‘whisky’, it’s ‘sharing’. In short, it's mad, but it always gives us the opportunity to do a few ‘Time-Warp sessions’, where we line up an old version and a more recent expression from the same distillery which can bet rather revealing. So, today it'll be Longrow, with two relatively young versions. Let’s get to it... |
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Longrow 17 yo 1990/2007 (56.1%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #114.6, ‘A Dragon’s Dram’, 583 bottles) 
There were, back in the early 2000s, some rather challenging batches of Longrow, not because of the distillate itself, but due to a few wine casks that had been, let’s say, on the very odd side. Tokaji, anyone? Or something veering towards the style of that notorious Springbank ‘Spiritus Sulphuris Volatilis’. In short, the SMWS had the good sense to offer rather more ‘clean’ alternatives, not unlike those immaculate 1987s from Signatory/Samaroli. Colour: gold. Nose: extraordinary notes of brine, mutton suet, cigar smoke, cumin, mustard, flint, smoked salmon… With water: boot polish, beeswax and always that suet. Mouth (neat): brings Brora to mind, very saline, slightly acetic, resolutely mineral (clay, basalt), then getting tenser and tighter, with a most straightforward impression of smoked lemon. Excellent. With water: you’ve swallowed seawater while bathing in the ocean, then comforted yourself with a wee mezcal laced with lemon and salt. Nicely done. Finish: long, even fresher, salty, smoky… The kippers aren’t far off. Comments: we never truly understood why Springbank produced so little Longrow. There, it’s said.
SGP:466 - 92 points. |
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Longrow ‘100° Proof Batch 1’ (57.1%, OB, refill bourbon and refill pinot noir, 2025 release) 
This is in fact the follow-up to the well-known ‘Red’ series which, generally speaking, had left us rather cold, as the combination of peat and red wine often evoked something like coffee and mustard mixed together – the sort of concoction we used to dish out to freshers when I was a boy scout. However, in this case, although it is pinot noir, the fact that it’s second fill does offer some reassurance. Let’s see… Colour: pale gold (victory!) Nose: no cherries, no blackcurrants, no raspberries, no woodland mushrooms, no hare pâté, and no Russian leather. Hurrah! This is more of a clean, taut Longrow, very much in the vein of those solid NAS entry-level bottlings, which are always rather good – something like a Campbeltown mojito. Lemon, seaweed, smoke, beach sand and fresh garden mint, along with a faint yeasty note (which likely betrays its youth). With water: amaretti and wood-fired white bread. Virgin wool and a touch of chalk in the background. Mouth (neat): some hints of cherry-stem herbal tea but well removed from the lees of chambertin or Bollinger. More pepper, lemon zest, a dash of tarragon, grapefruit (not even the pink kind!) With water: tinned sardines appear, along with lemon and even a splash of olive oil. Finish: fairly long, and highly maritime. One might as well be standing on a fishing quay. Comments: a great success, with the pinot noir element now little more than an anecdote. We’re rather pleased.
SGP:466 - 88 points. |
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