Longmorn tastes like the sunset.

The concept of synesthesia, the crossing of certain types of perception such as color, shapes, taste, audio, etc., is marvelous and fascinating. I sometimes wonder at the role it plays in our perceptions of whisky. Do you taste shades of red with sherry? Black or green with peat? Do you hear, or sense, music, or do specific shapes come to mind? More than a few whisky reviews, bloggers, and social media personalities love to connect their whisky experiences with musical soundtracks.

I have written before about how much I love what Proust called involuntary memory; memory recall associated with taste. It can be the sweet nostalgia of handling a memory that you had forgotten, but how much of that is also influenced by a bit of crossed wires in our perception?

It is curious how we perceive things, and how we understand what is a universal quality verses those very particular to ourselves. I am not the only one that associates certain colors or palettes with particular whisky flavors– some may experience this crossed perception more strongly than others. If I look for it I can often find it as a general notion, but occasionally it comes on strongly and completely unbidden. For me, it is typically colors, but a few times it has been music; I have never experienced shapes or numbers (unless one counts the scores I assign).

The artwork here reflects the typical color palette I associate with Longmorn: it is sunsets, shadows, lo-fi, and city pop. Some of the nuttier and more herbal Longmorn end up in something more like the forest, while older Longmorn occasionally have a bit of farm to them that takes me to coastal pastures; but nearly always that sunset color palette.

Whether you taste the rainbow, the setting sun, or think this all sounds daft, Longmorn is a prime malt to pour when on the hunt for tropical vibes and flavor profiles. While common online wisdom says to look for pre-1994 Longmorn, the year when the wash stills were converted to steam (steam providing a more even heating whereas the uneven nature of coal fired stills produces slightly different profiles), I think you can fruitfully hunt the tropics in modern Longmorn as well.

The fruity-malty profile of Longmorn is one of the reasons why it has long been a favorite among whisky enthusiasts (or the old-fashioned self-styled connoisseurs). Yet, for most of its history its owners have been relatively unconcerned with developing it as a single malt brand, letting Gordon and MacPhail act as a licensed bottler and permitting independent bottlers to use the distillery name. If you wanted Longmorn, those were typically your options.

This change, albeit only slightly, when the Seagrams empire finally imploded in the late-90s, its assets divided up between other large spirits conglomerates. Longmorn and other parts of the Chivas group were purchased by Pernod Ricard, and the new owners have continued maintained a core product line, replacing the preexisting 15 year old with a 16 Year old, adding a 23 year old, and occasional special releases. In 2024 that core range was refreshed again with an 18 and 22 Year.

Considering the reputation of the distillery and the fine bottles available from independents, that core range feels rather limited. I am not complaining however, as my love of many a Chivas distillery, and thus a willingness to buy and try official products (and blended products) was born from experiencing their whiskies via independent bottlers.

So, here we have a week dedicated to Longmorn. I consider the distillery one of my favorites, though so do many people!

Artwork this week is my own: here we have the Turnip, the Platypus, and their three cats enjoying the sunset with a city-pop influenced color palette and a dram of whisky.