Longrow 11 Year Single Cask First Fill Sauternes

Very smoky, some sense of peat, lovely color, sweet heat

Had this at a friend’s tonight. Very enjoyable with far more sweet wine cask tasting notes with a few peaty notes mixed in. Just behind Octomore 8.2. Nose: Mango, Honey, Pineapple, White Chocolate, Pear, Flowers, Peat, Vanilla, pepper Palate: Peat, Caramel, Chocolate, Pepper Finish: White Chocolate, Honey, Apricot, Cherry, Flowers

Just a quick baby rant - but it's rather tiring to have to add these with my phone only to of course write the reviews on a computer. I guess I'm turning into an old man, but good lord...phones are just not designed for writing more than a few sentences on. Why the internet has gone to completely catering to them is beyond me. Also, I'll be slowly going through more of my single casks and independent bottles for a while. On the one hand these aren't exactly easy to get bottles (though I know this one is available in multiple states in the US currently), but it has been my experience that if you like a distillery and you have an idea on the age and casks, you can make pretty good educated guesses based on experience on other's reviews so I don't think these are without merit. That in mind I will at least attempt to (when I can) discuss the distillery character and then cask character which I believe will be more consistent. Nose - i get what I'll call a red malt. Sweet, slightly fruity, more of the malt profile in perhaps an amber beer, then I get some salt, wax (almost a candle wax), and finally some lightly toasted oak barrels. Taste - Longrow's malt is always this very hearty funky, salty, unrefined, aggressive barely note. This is well on display with this younger cask. This is a super salty longrow, I believe this has to be coming from these first fill sauternes hogsheads. The overall impact is a very savory scotch profile that I can't say I've had before. I have had the springbank sauternes and I'm not sure if that was first fill, but I recall that one being a lot more on the sweet side and while springbank malt is a bit sweeter with less peat, I think these casks are playing the biggest role here. There is still a mid pallet sweetness of a wine in here, bringing some berries and vanilla up so don't think this is a pure savory bomb. *water - brings a bit more sweetness out but kinda kills the finish and gives off a bit more of the oak. Not a bad thing with a drop but I'll likely skip it going forward. This has to be one of the more unique longrow/springbanks and that is saying something from a brand that has a very unique character to start with. You still clearly get the classic longrow elements but the casks they used here is really interesting. 3.25. This is getting into the ranks of truly special stuff. I tend to find longrows in general are in that 2.5 to 3.75 range, the good to just short of greatness and this one is well within that context. Price - these are going for about 120-130 i believe, I however found this one for 80 bucks and yes, I bought backups.