Longrow CV

I wanted to like Longrow CV. Lots of people do, including a bunch of my friends. The peat was fine,...I just found the grain flavours to be kind of funky and disgusting. This one left a bad taste in my mouth.

@Nock, did you forget that Alchemist Springbank 10 you had with me? The one with the Port finish? "This tastes like 20 years old instead of 10." I am going to review that one soon. As I recall you may have liked that one more than 87 worth.

This is a case where I wish we were both drinking from the same bottle. I know and trust your taste enough that if you say something was funky then I believe it was funky. Mine, I assure you, was not funky or disgusting. It was every bit of an 87 if not a notch or two higher.

And of course you are correct to remind me of your sister's Alchemist. I believe we tried the Port Charlotte first - which I remember liking even more! It was simply that the Springbank with the Port finish was so very un-Springbank-ish. I actually forget that it was Springbank! And I would love to retaste it at some point just to verify my "enjoyment" ;) And I am quite sure it rated above 87 in my book.

That said, I would really like to find a standard expression from Springbank that I can support, get behind, and buy. I love their philosophy and their commitment to keeping everything on site and old school (from malting to bottling).

Oh, yes, there is nothing like tasting from the same bottle to arrive at a good mutual understanding of a whisky. Bottles can vary a lot from one another.

I do find it somewhat psychologically distressing to disagree with my friends about various whiskies. But comparing notes, and differences, is how we learn not only about the whiskies, but also about establishing community with one another.

I completely agree on both counts.

While it is psychologically distressing to disagree - especially about a whisky you are "supposed" to agree on - I think it keeps people from falling into the fallacy that there is an objective experience for a given whisky bottle.

For me that is the excitement! I find a whisky I am excited by, and of course I want my friends to agree. Sometimes that happens; sometimes it doesn't. As you get to know your friends taste there is a greater degree of predictability. Still, you never quite know.

The only thing I can offer is my own honest opinion and experiences - subjective and biased as they may be. And the only thing I hope for are the honest opinions of friends. And I do believe that reading reviews from you and others helps me to continue to develop my own understanding of my subjective tasting experiences. My hope is to better explain and translate my own tasting experience into written form.

I have a bottle of this that I will open in a few years. I would say for myself that this one is good every few years. Not a staple go-to scotch, but one to open when one is feeling quirky in a good way. It reminds me a little of mescal or tequila, as well. I happen to like a good tequila. Right now my favorite tequilas are Arte Nom Anejo and Fortaleza Blaco. The somewhat grotty and "burnt sweet potato" flavor of the Fortaleza is quite nice. The cactuses for this one were grown at low elevation, a rarity, and the tequila is the only major label made my hand (and feet) in a facility that used to be a museum and then was used again to make tequila. I heartily recommend both Fortaleza and the CV. It would be interesting to sip them side by side.

Just picked up a second bottle of this Longrow CV . . . very different. Glad I saved a sample of this bottle to compare!