Next up in our quest for a fabulous cask strength whisky around 100 pounds was Longmorn…

Now once upon a time the Longmorn 15 then 16 year was easily found on duty-free shelves, however it has become increasingly scarce… For quite some time now, a fellow Mumbai whisky lady has a standing request for any traveling folks to pick her up a bottle… in vain.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to a fine specimen. To graduate to 24 years and cask strength? This was anticipated with bated breath…

Longmorn 24 year (24.09.1990/04.08.2015) 53.8%, Hogshead 216 bottles  (TWE The Single Malts of Scotland)

Here is what we found:

• Nose – Sugar, spice and all things nice! Caramel, cardamon, toffee, yet also had fresh citrus zest, a sense of being oily, woodsy, sweet yet complex
• Palate – Tasted like it smells… that oily quality was quite welcome, rose and orange peel
• Finish – Dry wood, burn
• Water – Kills the nose, to the extent it took on a wet bread quality, and the palate became curiously flat

Here we found a cask strength whisky that was optimal at cask strength. Water simply didn’t do it any favours – quite the opposite for us.

If the Linkwood was summer, the Longmorn was autumn… the discord between aroma and palate found in the Linkwood was in complete accord here, singing the same note in harmony.

Again we set it aside to see if it further evolved. The glasses with water were disappointing. The pure cask strength retained the earlier elements adding a sweet drizzle of dark honey.

What else did we sample in our trio?

• Linkwood 24 year (1991/2015) Cask No 586497 53.8%
• Longmorn 24 year (1990/2015) 53.7% – This post
• Balmenach 26 year (1988/2015) Cask No 3242 51.1%

PS – My friend and I eventually tracked down the “elusive” Longmorn 16 year – persistence pays off!

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