Longrow Red Cab Franc & Tasting Room Sample Reviews

Hi everyone,

Springbank’s sibling Longrow could also be described as the younger brother. It’s brasher, bolder younger brother. Being only double distilled, and also more heavily peated, I find it doesn’t normally have the complexity of Springbank. Although, having just said that, I’ve heard great things about the stuff distilled in the 70’s.

These have not been distilled in the 70’s. The first is the new(ish) Longrow Red and then I’ve got a special(ish) one I tried at the recent Whisky in Leiden festival.

Longrow Red 11 Cabernet Franc 55.8%

Colour: Redish

Body: Full

Nose: Fruity chewy sweets, orange in particular and red berries, orange chewing gum. Odd nose.

Taste: Intense, big whisky. Red berries, dirty smoke, perfumed oak, ginger and white pepper.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Soft, ginger beer, orange, late smoke.

Not a massive fan of this series, I find them out of balance and a bit all over the place.

75/100

 

Longrow Tasting Room Sample 57.9%

Colour: Straw

Body: Full

Nose: Very nice nose of creamy smoke, ashes, something meaty, vanilla pod, slightly dirty peat.

Taste: Clean, smoky, lemon and green apple, coming in showing the youth, earthy then ashy. Green peppercorns getting more and more bitter.

Finish: Medium length. Quite bitter and astringent here, green peppercorns.

Bottled 06? A bottling for the Cadenhead's Tasting Room. Very nice nose, a bit harsh to taste.

75/100

Distillery: Springbank

Average Score: 78.6

Distillery Ranking: 15th/ 61 places

Up/Down: 14>15 (Down 1)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #610-#611

Whisky Network Reviews #722-#723

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

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80-84 Excellent

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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 I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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