60s Longmorn: Longmorn 38 yo 1968/2006 SMWS 7.35 vs Longmorn-Glenlivet 1966/1985 Moon Import
60s Longmorn are brilliant, but sadly also usually second fiddle to the other stunning whiskies distilled in the 60s.
Longmorn 38 yo 1968/2006 SMWS 7.35 49.8%
(Photo: whiskyonlineauctions)
Nose: Massively sherried old style – meaning not a blocky sweet orangey dullness, but obviously deep and filled with genuine ‘dried wood’, dried up resins, fracturing wood panels, flaking laquer, ancient leather, dried up medincinal tinctures, and rich aromatics of dessicated purple fruit, and 100% cocoa blocks, all without a hint of moisture. This is a dry style think dry aromatic rather than stroppy sweet. Tannins are ever present but manage to be restrained despite the wood saturation. Hints of smoke and char. And a sense of oily fruitiness under the weight of the sherry influence. If you love a genuine old sherry butt, you will like this.
Palate: Good, it it not blantantly tannic on the tongue, funny how these old butts were less tannic after decades while modern sherry washed casks that can be overly tannic in less years than I have fingers. So bang on profile -these wax pots and plant resins, chinese medicine, rich purple fruit, dried firewood. To be sure it’s a very heavy sherry style, but the Longmorn in here is oily and citric-astringent. Keeps weighted on the tongue without getting washed over.
Finish: Long, sooty, flaky leather, herbal tinctures and astringent fruit. Goes on and on.
Longmorn-Glenlivet 1966/1985 Moon Import 57%
The ‘Glenlivet’ is a common suffix in some Speysiders till about the 80s due to the long association with the quality of the whisky from the ‘Valley of the Livet’.
Nose: Very similar in style, with these dry aromatics, deep purples, herbal medicinals, and thick coats of soot. But this one is not as thick and heavily draped with the sherry, and provides a better look at the spirit. It’s telling that some lighter whiskies given this heavy treatment end up whispering under the aromatic cloak of the sherry butt, but not Longmorn I think. The sense of a round cereal oiliness remains at the core of the nose, and something like green and red fruit peels, and also an astringent tightness holds the wood and wine back – which is really great news.
Palate: Much more assertive, the sherry influence here feels like a cracked shell. Inside it’s an oily and thick whisky with familiar oily metal and soot – grimy notes from the garage, plus dried up apples or pears, and a whole bunch of grapes-turned-raisins. A palpable acidity or ‘grippiness’ gives it s very firm backbone. Very nuanced, though maybe not the best integration.
Finish: Long, sharpish, metal, soot, leather, herbals.
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