Peat and More Peat - Longrow 18 2017

Coninuing on with the peat theme, here's Springbank's peaty friend, the Longrow. This bottle came as part of the gifts when my sister got married. Part of Chinese culture involves giving 2 bottles of alcohol when a girl is marrying out of the family. The other bottle was a red wine that was good while it was fresh.

Springbank is one of few distilleries that manages most of the whole whisky-making process on-site. Much of its barley is imported (with the exception of the Local Barley series), but once the barley goes into the distillery, everything stays in Campbeltown until it is ready to meet the world. I guess this qualifies Springbank as a craft distillery? A giant in the industry, and massive in scale, but in terms of its ethos, I'm guess it still retains a craft spirit. Though does a distillery that is still family-owned, and still producing on-site definitely better? Is it merely an illusion of authenticity?

I'm reading a book, Whisky and Philosophy, and it is providing lots of food for thought. What makes a whisky good? It's process? It's flavour? Our impression of it affecting our evaluation of the quality? Is the search for provenance futile? What is real though, is this bottle of liquid.

Longrow 18, 2017 (abv 46%)



Colour: Gold, turns hazy with time.

Nose - This nose changes over time...Let's see. Dustiness, then baked pastry. Apple pie, I think, with cinnamon powder, apples, pastry, and all that. Plumps too! The fruit is very well integrated into the rest of the nose, which comes across as some custard, and a faint floral note. Peatiness doesn't come across so much on the nose. Maybe a hint of salt.

Palate - A little peppery, some cinnamon. Again, the fruit isn't very obvious - some raisins and apples, but the dominant note here is actually almond peel, the kind from roasted almonds. Hmm. The peat is fairly gentle, but turns a little bitter. It blends well into the oakiness and roasted almonds though. There's a bit of wet rocks, grapefruit. Oily, but gets even thicker with time in the glass. Salted butter makes a late appearance after some time.

Finish - Fresh pine leaves, mint, smoke. The almond skin sticks with you too. Fairly long. A little peppery. Eucalyptus oil? Mm. Yum.

Overall - I really like this. It really helps that the bottle came as a gift. But honestly, I don't think it is expensive for an 18 year old limited release from Longrow. Good whisky, good marriage. Good.