Longrow 12 Year Old Campbeltown Commemoration

Campbeltown Commermoration is a series from the 1980s by Eaglesome Ltd, consisting of 5cl miniatures. It is an homage to the different distilleries from Campbeltown such as Albyn, Ardlussa, Argyll, Benmore, Burnside, Campbeltown, Dalaruan, Dalintober, Drumore, Glen Nevis, Glengyle, Glenside, Hazelburn, Kinloch, Kintyre, Lochhead, Lochburn, Lochside, Longrow, Meadowburn, Rieclachan, Springbank, Springside and Toberanrigh. At this moment, I have in front of me a bottle of Longrow, proudly stating 1824-1896, the years in which the original distillery was active. All bottles also proclaim 12 Year Old and Vatted Malt, which tells us that it is not the original malt (doh!), but a vatting to come as close to the original taste as possible. I am curious. Anyway, this is not a product from the Springbank distillery.

The nose is wonderfully old school with lots of leather, Seville oranges, sniffing tobacco, freshly cut grass and honey. Some touches of freshy polished leather and gooseberries shine trough. Some peat, offering a mild smokiness. Leave it for a few minutes and some very juicy honey kicks in. I must say, this is very intriguing.

It has lost nothing of its power and is still very tasty. Feisty on pepper and a truckload of cinnamon, this reminds me of Saint Nicholas. Gingerbreak, oranges, ginger, liquorice. Again that soft smokiness, making this very nice indeed. Citrus and honey dominate with peat as a backdrop. A funny salty lining.

The finish is wonderfully long, sweet versus salt with a lot of smoke.

Very nice little bottle, I have to say. But it has absolutely nothing to do with today’s Longrow that is produced at Springbank. And obviously it is impossible to gauge if this resembles the original malt of the lost Longrow distillery. If this does come close, then Springbank has its work cut out for it, for this was absolutely great!

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