And an alternative | 40.5% ABV

How much is too much?

We must each draw a line somewhere in the sand. For me, and I hope the readership too, releases like this have crossed that line.

Let’s address the elephant in the room; another extreme unobtainable bottle from Springbank distillery? Trust me, I know - it’s ludicrous. The price, the degree of unavailability, the sheer disconnect between this kind of liquid and the vast majority of whisky drinkers… it’s painful.

I review these bottles, not because of some perverse status statement or any other performatory classism - I can’t afford these bottles for myself and I don’t believe anyone should be spending this kind of insane money. This bottle was only acquired because of industry connections, and it was bought for my whisky club. As I’m prone to doing now, I traded some of my personal whisky stash for the leftovers of this bottle, not least of all so I could do this review.

I review these bottles because it’s an opportunity to discuss the position of a cynically premiumised whisky market in a public forum with an impassioned readership. If anything, the goal of talking about them on Dramface is to discourage reckless spending, soothe FOMO and state unequivocally; these whiskies are, by and large, completely unworthy of the asking price. How could they be?

Not just as a function of what the same liquids were worth an almost laughably short amount of time ago, but compared to the rapidly increasing prices of goods and services on the whole. For many of us living pretty much hand to mouth, these propositions come in the form of something like: “Should I buy a limited edition Springbank or change all four bald tires on my car?”

It’s just whisky and perspective is key.

To that end, I’ve included a bonus review for a fairly affordable malt which, when blind tasted against the Longrow in the most recent of my club meetings, fared rather well. It can’t replicate the nuances and distillery characteristics, nor the tertiary aged aspects of the Longrow, but it sits quite comfortably in the same overarching family of flavours.

I’m going to make more of an effort in future when reviewing some of these more expensive and/or harder to find bottles to provide a comparative review for what I believe is a similarly-styled whisky. If any of you have suggestions for such things (whether it be independents, distilleries or even specific bottles) please let me know, and if it’s in my power I’ll try to review them here on the platform.

Review 1/2

Longrow 21yo, Single Cask for Australia, New Zealand and Poland, 40.5% ABV
AUD$800 minimum, AUD$600 paid. (likely north of $1500 secondary)

Longrow is, based on a very limited variety of experiences, one of my favourite distillates: heavily peated and with enough characteristic Springbank funk so as to be identifiable in most instances.

Possibly my only bugbear is the extremely limited number of bottling series released and of those even fewer are distributed to Australia. The only ones we seem to receive on a semi-regular basis are the NAS peated (which I love and try to keep a small stash of), the Longrow Red wine cask series and the merest dribble of core 46%, 18 and 21 year olds.

The red series misses me completely - of the handful I’ve tried, the distillate has been suppressed and disfigured into a vinous, overly tannic, sometimes sulfurous and always annoyingly unbalanced mess. I understand there are many for whom red wine casks are a positive factor rather than a death knell, and to those folks I would wish the very best of luck in hunting such bottles down.

This essentially leaves just the NAS at the quasi-affordable end of the market. The opportunity then to purchase and share one of these incredibly rare single casks (at essentially wholesale price no less) with my fellow whisky club members was too good to pass up.

Nose

A bit of a sherry bomb up front, though I’m ecstatic to say it feels like a pretty clean cask. Unlit pipe tobacco, dried red stone fruits, antique furniture polish, crushed pecans in their shells and earthy forest floor littered with bracken and leaves. Moving past the cask there’s typical barnyard stable and sweet silage, pleasantly moderate distillate sulfur geared to beach kelp, alliums and passionfruit overlaid with time-softened wood smoke. There’s also hot BBQ grill, smoked smallgoods, leather, tropical fruits (dominantly mango, guava and melon) and the slightest touch of balsamic.

Palate

Bigger peat and distillate; damp forest campfire, ash, coal smoke, hot engine oil and even a hint of tar. The fruits are much more balanced here between the tropical and sherry cask varieties; mango, passionfruit, guava, pineapple and some cantaloupe melon against dates, figs, plums and a little brandy-rinsed Christmas cake with ample spices, plus a few cola cubes on the side. Continuing into the finish, decadent waves of tertiary goodness flit about - more sweet pipe tobacco, roasted nuts and their oils, touches of Belgian milk chocolate, desiccated coconut, old Armagnac, extra silage and soft mulch. The texture is incredible for the ABV too; well balanced between coating oiliness and soft sherry tannins.

The Dregs

This is, unsurprisingly, incredibly good whisky. Even at the full age in sherry, the cask doesn’t dominate and achieves a beautiful synergy with the distillate. Does it blow my unkempt hair back, drive the outside world to a far, pale distance and make me close my eyes to relish unfathomable internal delight while shedding a tear? Honestly; almost.

If this were any other producer I’d be shouting its virtues from the rooftops unreservedly. For the money that’s being asked though, anything short of an unreserved 10/10 rating just absolutely cannot be worth it. That’s a real shame, because this whisky is absolutely worth celebrating, of approving grunts and elbows shoved in the ribs of friends to call their attention round. But those days are forfeit, the wolves are at our doors and rampant greed fouls the air like so many fungating cancerous wounds.

Parting is, in this instance, a most bitter sorrow, but for the moment that’s exactly what we must do. If you have a chance to split the cost (not at secondary prices though, mind you) and the experience with a group of good friends without going broke, then by all means, do it. This still loses more than a point for pricing, though not quite two whole ones if I’m splitting hairs.

Score: 8/10

Review 2/2

Ruadh Maor 8yo, (Peated Glenturret) Càrn Mòr Strictly Limited, 47.5% ABV
AUD$130 (£75), AUD$80 paid.

Much like Longrow, I’ve only had a handful of peated Glenturrets, but the batting average has been pretty high. There’s a farmy and organosulfur driven dirtiness to many of them which seems to suit a moderate sherry influence as well. Naturally then, when this bottle went on a very sharp offer from a local store it seemed fated to become the sparring partner for the Longrow 21yo.

As mentioned above, it did well in my club’s blind tasting.

Nose

Dirty/peated new make qualities? Yes, certainly, but it’s easily forgotten in a swell of other notes: Highland peat with warm wood smoke, leather and a touch of synthetic rubber a la new sneakers, then nutty sherry (feels like oloroso) with roasted cacao nibs, good yeast slurry and dried red fruits. A tiny splash of water (1-3% dilution) lifts the peat and adds some more cacao/tobacco geared pyrazine tones. 

Palate

It just works and the youth is felt less by comparison. The distillate is a touch more farm-like with more yeast slurry, fish sauce dirtiness and a touch of sweet dung with a rauchbier-esque maltiness. Meanwhile the peat/sherry balance continues from the nose with wood smoke, lit cigar, leather, roasted hazelnut in mocha, more dried fruits bordering on jam and well poised American oak baking spices in support. 

The Dregs

This is good malt whisky and not just for the age and/or price. Could it do with a few more years in cask to really get going? Sure, the Longrow crushes it and leaves it for dead presently. Had it been left to reach 21 years we may indeed find many more parallels with the Longrow though. What’s here in the glass now, though, is characterful, pretty well integrated and maybe most importantly, fun. As an aside, I reckon a splash of some young, fruity Clynelish would bring it even closer to the Longrow. 

Hearing the feedback for this bottle from club members brought a fullness to my chest and a wee internal smile. There is good whisky out there for a fair price. When all of the glitz, marketing and feverous self-reinforcing hype falls away, with only a drinker and a glass of amber in front of them, there are still great whisky moments to be had. I’ll share the rest of this bottle very happily and, when it’s gone, I may very well buy another one. If I do, I’ll share that one too, as it’s supposed to be. 

Score: 6/10

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. TK

Other opinions on this:

Whiskybase (Longrow)

Whiskybase (Ruadh Maor)

Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.