Hi everyone,
We’ve got some Longrows today. The double distilled, heavily peated Springbank. Need you know more?
Yes? Bloody hell, you’re needy today…
Well, as I’ve said before, Springbank is great and although I’m maybe not a massive fan of Longrow in particular, it’s also true that I haven’t tried any single cask/cask strength stuff apart from the Longrow Red, which I found a bit too much. They’ve just brought out a new one though (Malbec cask finish) and I look forward to trying to try it at some point.
Longrow NAS 46%
Colour: Light gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Clearly more smoky than Springbank but also cakey with loads of vanilla, fairy cake, so much cake just covers everything, like if you were actually standing inside a giant fairy cake. More herbal vanilla with some water.
Taste: Creamy, light peat, lots of vanilla, fairy cake, oily. Building oily spice with fresh vanilla pods. Creamy and oily but more spiced with water.
Finish: Medium length. The peat hits with drying spice.
A vatting of 7, 10 and 14 year old whiskies. Replaced the CV.
70/100
Longrow 1995 10 year old 46%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Smoky with salt and a strong vegital note. Smoked seaweed, brine soaked driftwood, earthy, boggy heather, wood smoke, green sappy oak and resin, light fruit in the background- Blood orange and cherry. Some chemical, sulphur, melted plastic. Some syrup and brown sugar coming out, ash and soot too.
Taste: Creamy then oily. Building oak and spice- Pepper, then a swelling sweetness with juicy fruit- Orange, white grape, bitter cherry, redcurrent jelly, some lemon, phenolic smoke, paraffin. Sea salt and coastal coming in with a vegital note going into the finish- Boggy heather and seaweed.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Wood smoke fading then some spice with salty seaweed lingering.
Complex with funk but some off notes.
77/100
Longrow 18 2015 Edition 46%
Colour: Amber
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Sweet and old, brown sugar, peat bog, heather, driftwood, sea breeze. Brown bread, more sweet and cakey, vanilla.
Taste: Creamy, almost watery start, going more full with some far away peat smoke, baked apple, raisin, spicy oak, more raisin, brown sugar, fig and date. More floral, heather, oak, bog, vanilla cake and salty driftwood.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Fades easily but steadily with light smoke and sherried spice.
Complex, sweet, floral and smoky. Really tame compared to the ‘Red’ though.
77/100
Longrow Red 12 Pinot Noir Finish 52.8%
Colour: Red
Body: Full
Nose: Meaty red fruit and spice, berries, pomegranate, cheap red wine with raw steak. More raw steak with water.
Taste: Sweet, juicy red berries, cranberry chocolate, peat bog, vegital, burnt heather.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Raw meat, spice and berry juice.
Very odd, too sulphury perhaps?
72/100
Thanks for reading!
Scotch Reviews #360-#363
Whisky Network Reviews #406-#409
Network Average: 74.5
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
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