Official bottlings comparison review | 45 & 48% ABV

Compare and contrast

Comparing and contrasting whiskies side-by-side is a nice tool in an appreciator’s toolkit. Some whiskies, when sipped separately, can feel like the same whisky. Only when you try them side-by-side do the intricacies show themselves and, once you’ve tasted them, those differences can never be “untasted”.

When I first sipped Aultmore 12yo, to my blunt palate, it tasted just like the Balblair 12 from my memory. Only after doing a side-by-side did I find the intricate differences; both solid whiskies, but they are not the same.

This same can be done to highlight prominent features in a whisky too. As some of us can relate to, peat blight is real, especially when we drink a flight of peated whiskies, somewhere along the way, we don’t get the peat anymore.Many a time when I am writing tasting notes, I have to remind myself that the whisky was supposed to be peated, and I have to look for the peat to make sure it’s there. More often than not I find it, but some would argue that peat and smoke should be the first thing that hits my senses.

To “fix” this, I simply have a small dram of a known unpeated whisky, something like a Glenfiddich would do, and the peat from our supposedly peated whisky suddenly reveals itself.

Most recently I was at a whisky festival where I drank around four peated whiskies in a row, and the fourth was a 16 year old independently bottled (IB) Laphroaig. I didn’t get any smoke at first, and I thought the 16 years in the cask must have rounded off the peat, but then I thought again, 16 years shouldn’t be enough for the peat to completely dissipate, so I took a sip of my wife’s dram, a nicely playing 21 year old Glenlivet, before going back to my Laphroaig, and boom, the peat is there, front and centre.

Speaking of this comparing and contrasting fun, of which we do quite a bit of at Dramface. I’d like to chip in too, because I have two similar bottles sitting around, and it’s a perfect excuse for me to crack open one of them.

Sadly, the Longmorn 16 has been discontinued, revived, and discontinued again, but fortunately, I have both of them in my stash. You can probably find them on the secondary market, but there is no need to overpay for it, there are plenty of other equally good, reasonably priced whiskies. At the time of writing, the original 18 year old Longmorn is still available, and is a perfectly competent whisky, but the distillery’s parent company is placing the new version out of reach by injecting it with ‘luxury’ steroids along with an overzealous price hike.

A Longmorn 18yo made an appearance as part of Pernod Ricard’s Secret of Speyside series, priced at around £80-90, but as the enthusiast community was hoping for it to become a regular release, it seems like Pernod decided to pull a fast one by changing it into a cask strength version at more than double the price. Longmorn is good, a cask strength 18 year old longmorn is very good, but at £220, no thanks.

I don’t have a particularly strong affection for Longmorn, even during my early days of attempting to own a bottle of every distillery under the sun, Longmorn wasn’t on my radar. Looking back now, this is not too surprising, because Longmorn has long been a workhorse distillery for Pernod Ricard, contributing to its blends such as Ballantines and Chivas Regal I suspect. In fact, I think that at the time Longmorn didn’t even have an official expression available to me, thus I wasn’t aware of its existence.

It’s not the first time this particular man made my wallet leak money, but the Longmorn 16 first piqued my interest when Daniel Whittington of the Whiskey Tribe raved about it, and that was the first time I’ve heard of Longmorn the name. Upon further research, the distillery seemed to be very well respected among blenders and distillers, earning it the nickname of a whisky maker’s distillery or something along those lines. Since learning about that fact, I started actively hunting for IB Longmorn, but they often demanded way too much money, and this was even for me at a stage where I was happy to splurge on whisky. Until this day, not a single bottle of IB Longmorn has made it to my shelf.

What has made it to my shelf though, were both the old and new versions of the Longmorn 16yo, both acquired under rather fortunate circumstances. The new Longmorn 16 was only recently discontinued and plenty of stock was still floating around, so I was able to get it close to MSRP. While the old Longmorn 16 was not widely available, at the time I befriended an owner of a nearby whisky shop, knowing that I was after that particular bottle, he sold me one from his personal collection for around £80, not cheap, but still considerably less than what I would have had to pay in the secondary market.

Thus the two bottles are now on my shelf, enabling today’s review.

Review 1/2

Longmorn 16yo, Discontinued old- bottling, olive green box and label, 2007-2016 release, 48% ABV
Secondary market only, occasional dusties.

Before moving on to the whiskies, there is a disclaimer to be made. I had so much anticipation with the old Longmorn 16yo that over the years I’ve read other reviews in both written and video form, so while I have not revisited any other reviews during the process of writing my own, some of the tasting notes have been etched in my mind, so I can’t say that I am going into this process completely neutral and unbiased. With that out of the way, let’s dig in.

Score: 9/10

**Exceptional.**
***TL;DR***
*I find this simply wonderful*

Nose

A subdued nose, creamy butterscotch, caramel, eucalyptus, menthol, green tea, some hints of floral vanilla, even some chilli peppers.

Palate

Creamy and oily arrival, rich and warm honey, salted vanilla caramel, apples, pears, melons, oranges, grapefruits, all sorts of fruits lining up to present themselves, black pepper and a bit of ginger on the development, turning a little bit mineralic, surprisingly drying on the finish, with the black pepper and tea lingering; amusingly to me, when I thought the finish was over, the black pepper wouldn’t go away, and the tea has a slow but drying effect making it dangerously moreish, and I’m back for another sip…

The Dregs

I came into this review not wanting to be extra critical of this whisky, I didn’t want its reputation to inflate its score, but this is simply a wonderful whisky. There are a lot of flavours present but they don’t get in each others’ way. Akin to a well-rehearsed play, where actors and actresses know the timing of their appearances perfectly, deliver their lines, and exit the stage, vacating it for the next to come in and take centre stage. My words sound fantastical, but this is simply that good, no wonder it is a legendary whisky.

Score: 9/10 MMc

Review 2/2

Longmorn 16yo, Discontinued old- bottling, purple box and transparent bottle label, 2017-2022 release, 48% ABV
Secondary market, occasional retail.

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*A stunner*

Nose

Malty, apples, honey, old leather, milk chocolate, vanilla, with a hint of salinity

Palate

Robust arrival, citrus notes, but I can’t quite discern what fruit exactly, lime is the closest I can get, probably a tad bit of lemon as well. On the development there are dark chocolates and coffee beans, salted caramel, and some pepper as well, but unlike the old 16, it’s closer to white pepper than black pepper. Similarly, hints of mineralic coastal notes near the end, a nice refreshing zesty finish. Not as moreish as the old 16, but a different kind of satisfaction.

Dregs

I can imagine the disappointment from the fans of the old 16 when they tried this new one, not because it’s not a good whisky, but because it's a different one. It’s equally flavoursome, but when it comes to the delivery of flavours, this one has less finesse and a bit less layered. Still, it’s a stunner in and of itself, I’d drink this all day.

Score: 8/10 MMc

Bonus Review - Murdo

Longmorn 15yo, Discontinued old- bottling, dark brown label and box, late-nineties - 2005 release, 45% ABV
Secondary market only, very occasional dusties.

Of course, when we speak about Longmorn, we can’t skirt around the legendary Longmorn 15yo.

Rather surprisingly, the legendary Longmorn 15yo isn’t an unobtainable whisky, but a premium is due. Where I live, prices sit at approximately £150 on the secondary market, which, with all things considered, I don’t think is too far over the top, the bottle has been discontinued since the mid-2000s after all.

More fortunately, when I was looking to acquire a bottle, I looked on Master of Malt, and the bottle was listed at around £70 or something of that order (I just looked again, it’s gone way up since and isn’t available anyway), since my UK-based brother was making a journey back soon at the time, I pulled the trigger and had it shipped to him to bring home.

The Longmorn 15 harks back to a time when stills at the distillery were still directly fired, which adds an extra layer of interest to this bottle compared to contemporary expressions. Without much further ado, let’s dive right in.

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Altogether lovely, but a shorter event*

Nose

Wood spices, very malty, some dark fruits, caramel, honey glazed almonds, even a whiff of smoke in the form of spent candles, a very nice nose.

Palate

Relatively light arrival, white sugar, white pepper, salted caramel, savoury in the development, a bit of meatiness, guava, sandalwood, leather. So much going on it basically skips the development and goes right to the finish, which is disappointingly short, but still offers some roasted nuts to finish it off, maybe that’s where the direct-fired stills left their mark.

Dregs

If the two 16s are sisters, this 15 is a cousin. Some of the distillery signatures are still around, but the differences are a lot more noticeable. The spent candles from the nose remind me of some expressions from Glenfarclas, maybe that is contributed by the direct-fired stills? The biggest disappointment here is the shortness of the event. Who am I to give this legendary whisky a 6/10? But that is my experience with it, maybe a more seasoned drinker can tell me what I’m missing.

Bonus Review - Fergus

Longmorn 15yo, Discontinued old- bottling, dark brown label and box, late-nineties - 2005 release, 45% ABV
Secondary market only, very occasional dusties.

I bought this bottle of Longmorn 15yo back in 2015 and I paid £50 for it. It was out in the wild, sitting on the shelf of a random off-licence that I just happened to walk into, gathering dust.

I’d been into whisky for about six or seven years at the time, and although I’d never tasted Longmorn’s 15yo, I’d heard people talk about it and had read about it on forums. It’s regarded by many as something of a cult whisky and has been discontinued since 2005.

Needless to say, I bought it without hesitation. Due to the fact that it’s something of a unicorn, I decided to hold onto it and open it when the time felt right.

Last month, that time came. Having splashed out on a new guitar, I couldn’t justify buying any whisky, so I decided to dip into my own Glass Loch. Having had the bottle of Longmorn for nearly a decade, I figured it was time to finally crack it open, something which (as Murdo will mention and link to) didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Good, but not spectacular*

Nose

The nose is a little musty. I get stale raisins and a little cardboard. Perhaps this is due to ‘old bottle effect?’ I don’t know. There’s definitely a slight fustiness to it, though.

There are also some brighter notes to counter that fustiness. I get crisp green apple, a little cinnamon and some honey dew melon. I also get a little apple cider.

Leaving it in the glass for a while, I get modelling glue and a little Camp Coffee syrup, as well as some slightly stale chocolate. There’s also a hint of liquorice.

On the whole it’s a fairly light, fruity nose. Not too complex and ‘typically Speyside’.

Palate

The first thing that strikes me on the palate is how balanced it is. This is a whisky that’s been matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, and the interplay between those two aspects is very balanced indeed. Sipping this one made me realise how ‘shouty’ a lot of modern whiskies are by comparison. There’s a big market now for very sherry forward whiskies, and I wonder if this expression was still being produced today, whether it wouldn’t lean more in that direction.

The first thing I get on the palate is apple. There are some bright, tropical fruit notes as well - think pineapple, and more of that honeydew melon that I picked up on the nose - as well as some raisins and some fudge. The finish is slightly bitter, with tannins, some woodspice and some white pepper. I also get pear drops, and maybe Jolly Ranchers.

My only criticism of it is that it lacks a little grip. Whether that’s because it’s oxidised in the bottle, or whether it’s down to the 45% abv, I’m not sure. I think if this had been bottled at, say, 48%, it would probably offer a bit more engagement.

Incidentally, whilst I’m on the subject of ABV, it’s also worth mentioning that this one does contain caramel colourant. Evidently, my bottle is German, because the words ‘mit Farbstoff’ are written on the label.

The Dregs

It’s difficult, approaching a whisky that’s loved by many, but which you don’t have any previous experience with. You come to it with expectations, and sometimes, the whisky struggles to live up to those expectations. For me, I think that’s the case with this Longmorn.

It’s decent whisky, and for the £50 I paid for it, I’d recommend it without hesitation. This is 2024, though, and as I write this, buying a bottle of this whisky from one of the big online retailers will cost you significantly more. The Whisky Exchange, for instance, currently stock it for £175.

Is it worth £175? Well, value is of course subjective, especially when it comes to discontinued bottles. If you remember drinking this expression back in the early 2000s, and if you have a personal connection to it - which I know many people do - then it may be worth shelling out for.

For me, it’s a no, though. In fact, I’ll go one further: I think if I’d paid £175 for it, I’d have been left wondering what all the fuss is about. It’s good whisky, but it’s not spectacular.

That said, if you can find this bottle at auction for under £100 - and if you’re keen to try an older whisky that’s regarded as something of a classic - then I think it’s worth a punt. It’s certainly decent. It just didn’t set my whisky world on fire in the way I might have hoped.

Score: 6/10 FMc

Final Dregs

I’ve had all three bottles for quite some time, but both the old 16 and the even older 15 were uncorked for the purpose of this review, and the uncorking was not uneventful.

The old 16 has that fancy cardboard “scarf” around the bottleneck that shouts “non-chill-filtered”, and the glue had dried off, thanks to Mrs McAtear, it has been nicely restored. The leather bottom of the bottle has also come off and also needed some repair work. More alarmingly, the condition of the cork wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, luckily, I found a replacement cork that both fit snugly and stylistically matched the bottle.

Uncorking the 15 had more issues. Quite simply put, the cork had dried up and broke as I was uncorking the bottle. In the attempt of trying to remove it, parts of the broken cork have decided to join the liquid, but no matter, another appropriate replacement cork has been identified and the whisky remains protected. Our friend Fergus encountered the exact issue with his bottle when he opened it a few weeks ago, and while he had decided to sieve his bottle through a tea filter to get rid of the disintegrated cork, I was too lazy to do that and was content with the knowledge that I will chew on some Longmorn 15 flavoured cork in the future. Believe me, we did not know we were uncorking the classic within weeks or even days of each other.

A lesson from all of this? Keep the corks before you dispose of your empty bottles, you never know when you might need them.

Back to the whiskies. Both the Longmorn 16s were really good, but the old one is better, with more complexity, more layers, and the sensations more subtly delivered, whereas the new one delivered the flavours more boldly and robustly. The hot take from this is that the original 15-year-old was a bit disappointing, with its legendary reputation, it was always going to struggle to live up to expectations. It’s likely chill-filtered and it shows, especially compared to its cousins. If it had a bit more mouthfeel, it would certainly get bumped up a point on the scoreboard. The whisky is still good, a richly flavoured one, but it all went by so fast.

This was such a fulfilling exercise for me, to have all three whiskies present is like having three time capsules opened. I thought I was comparing and contrasting whiskies for this review, but I was in fact travelling back in time to visit some legendary whiskies from a legendary distillery, which sadly may be out of reach for us enthusiasts in the future.

But let’s not end on a grim note, there is always more whisky, and generations to come will envy what we can enjoy and take for granted today.

Tried these? Share your thoughts in the comments below. MMc

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