Longmorn 16 Year (Discontinued)

He tasted good in my mouth, but he burnt when he went down.

Stop number 58 on the SDT is Longmorn. This is my first from this lesser known Speyside distillery. Bottled at 48% ABV, non chill filtered and natural color of amber gold. So far so good. First impression on the nose is that this is going to be thick and heavy. Dark sherry notes. Earthy mineral notes like wet stones on an ocean beach, this could be some light peat speaking. Caramel apples and maple syrup. Sure does feel like a sherry bomb to me. Pears, plums and raisins. It goes a bit sideways here with burnt oak, charcoal and faded smoke, but these notes don’t hang around too long. A little mint and licorice and fennel. Wood resin, cherry pie filling and saltine crackers. Honey, tea, orange peel, a little banana and a touch of new leather. This thing is all over the place and doesn’t really seem very cohesive. A little water smooths it out while bringing out a little more sweetness. A somewhat hot arrival on the palate from the higher ABV. Cinnamon apples and grape/cherry cough syrup. Slightly astringent. Dry oak, green oak, tannins and clove. Burnt toffee and caramel, bitter dark chocolate and dark sherry. Not as much of a sherry bomb on the palate as I was expecting. Honey, plums, leather and earthy minerals and peat. No smoke to speak of. Water doesn’t really change anything but tones the intensity down. Medium-full bodied mouthfeel, oily but dry. A long finish. Dry oak, sherry, cherry cough syrup and a little bitter. This is a very odd Speysider. Feels more like it would have come out of Campbeltown or an Island distillery. A strange combination of flavors and very different than most of the scotch coming out of Speyside. All over the place and very jumbled. Seems to be confused about what style it wants to be. Some good and some bad, but mostly good I guess. It’s complex, just not cohesive, the flavors don’t all work well together. Some may love this one, some may hate it. As for me, 3.25. Thanks to @Telex for the sample. Cheers

As we continue to plow our way through all of the currently active distilleries in Scotland, we make our way to this Speyside distillery- Longmorn. This sample was graciously provided by our newest group member, @Telex. This is a distillery direct bottle of their 16 year old malt. It’s bottled at a robust and surprising 48% ABV. It’s a true golden color and produces slow-forming and short legs in the Glencairn. It’s oily as hell and clings to the glass even when it’s spun with a little force. The predominant aroma is green apples. There’s some faint, worn leather and some rustic oak tannins hanging out as well. There’s not much alcohol on the nose and that’s great considering the higher ABV. The palate is ridiculously hot to me with lots of oak spice and pepper. Mid sip is drying and strong but does wash away with some light, orchard fruit notes. It’s so hot, though, I felt like I had to suffer through the heat just for those light, leftover fruits. I can’t say it’s worth the pain, lol. The finish is long and dry and overwhelmed with hard, oak spice. This is a beast for a 16 year old. Overall, I had a hard time trying to find a sweet spot to make this enjoyable. I added a healthy splash of cold water to try and tame it some, but even after 10 minutes all it did was make it harder to keep the aroma in the foreground. Even the apples faded quickly. It’s definitely a heavy dram. It was a bit taxing on me even though I went in mentally prepared for a harder hitting, single malt. Perhaps this one needed to be cut to 40-43% to make it more palatable IMO. Thanks again, Jason for helping us tick off these distilleries. As it is, this was a 2.75 star dram. Cheers.

Plowing through the samples of our little Scottish Distillery trading team ( name is a bit of a misnomer, since many of our non-official samples have been anything but Scottish), I thought of trying this one provided by Telex. This is really a peculiar beast. It's savory, not spicy as some malts, or even that Sherry sweet as others. But savory as in an Indian spice mixture of ginger, turmeric, ground coriander seeds ( not to be confused with coriander leaves, which are herbal). It's as if my mom opened up her spices to make samosas or aloo gobi . Solid dram, but you have to go in wanting that savory samosa taste; if you're expecting spicy or sweet, you'll be either disappointed or surprised. Note to all Indian and South Asian chefs and cooks: in case you run out of your masala mix, just add a dram of this into your samosas. Thanks Telex

Heads up! This is a VERY savory dram, so don’t move in unless you want a meal. On the nose it’s spice galore. Tumeric, cayenne, cinnamon, coriander, they’re all there. Along for the ride are light fruits and a light tobacco. The palate. Wow. Most people, unfortunately, won’t know what I am referring to, but the taste reminds me a lot of an Ethiopian Sambossa. Onions, lamb, spices, ginger, and mint. Some will learn a way to respect the glass, and some might get lost in its onslaught of great flavor. The finish is a little bitter, filled with toasted almonds and walnuts. 3.75. The theme for this dram will be “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. It is worth the journey.