Longmorn 24 Year Old 1990 Signatory Vintage

Longmorn – BenRiach’s direct neighbour, even their buildings actually touch – recently jumped on the bandwagon of premiumisation and has ‘re-invented’ itself. In other words, their standard bottlings have become much more expensive. Reason enough – for me at least – to check out the independent bottlers. This 24 Year Old from 1990 was bottled by Signatory.

The nose starts rather sharp, to be honest. Loads of hay and chalk and something that reminds me of wood glue. That was a bit of a scare. After a few moments, it does reassert itself with some citrus, toffee and apricot pastry. Quite spicy as well. Very active cask, I think.

While I do find it creamy and round on the palate, the fruit does not shine through completely, hindered by the spices. Yes, I do taste some peach and maybe even some raisins, but the spiciness of the oak turns it a tad bitter quite quickly. All in all, it’s not as bad as it sounds, but I would have expected more fruitiness from Longmorn.

In the finish, the oak cask really puts its foot down again and makes it bittersweet and drying. It lingers an eternity.

Rather austere Longmorn that is a touch atypical, yet still very good.

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