Whisky : Longmorn 12 Year SMWS 7.121 “Salt water taffy”

Country/Region : Speyside

ABV : 58.4%

Cask : Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel

Age : 12 Years (Distilled 17 Sept. 2002)

Nose : Peeling an orange or grapefruit on the seashore: citrus, fruit, and salt all come out at once.  The nose is a bit oily— it is an oil infused with lemon rinds that clears the sinus.  Fresh cut foliage and a chopped fennel bulb give a green licorice scent to the dram.  A sweet concentrated dryness comes out near the end as a straw hat, wicker basket, or dried pineapple slices.

Palate : Citrus leads the way— lemon and grapefruit are sweet and sour.  The lemon is delightfully oily and coats the palate in a warm hug.  It might be a bit like taking a shot of lemon scented furniture polish— or licking a freshly polished chair leg.  Salted sesame, cinnamon, and rock salt give some complexity to the citrus.  Flavorful dried vanilla bean pods, licorice rich fennel root and star anise, as well as rolled oats combine well with the lemon as the dram develops.

Finish : Lingering lemon sorbet, black pepper, and a bit of sweet char from grilled pineapples.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Pineapple under the Sea.

Something Better : Longmorn (richer fruits, thicker body, longer finish)

Something Similar : Arran 14 (similar tropical fruit juice notes & spice, shorter finish)

Something Worse : Hibiki Harmony (similar fruit and citrus, less complex, less finish)

Notes : Sweet and salty— this was a confusing mix of almost savory notes with a good bit of fruit.  Salted pineapple anyone?  Cutting through— or maybe undergirding— the viscous fruit and salt were odd notes of fresh cut foliage, mowed grass, straw picnic basket, or rolled oats.  I am not quite sure what to make of this.  The salty notes gave a sharpness to the fruit notes that kept it from becoming a lovely syrupy tropical fruit, while the fruit notes remained dominant enough to keep this from becoming a truly maritime dram.  This might be what Sponge-bob’s house tastes like— a rotted undersea pineapple.

While most of my SMWS reviews have been for recent out-turns from the US or Japan chapters, this dram originally appeared in a 2014/15 outturn for the U.K.  This review comes courtesy of a bottle won at auction and was opened up at a local whisky tasting/blending workshop that took place in conjunction with a Jo Malone cologne workshop.  The bottle was supposed to represent a scotch equivalent to the aroma of “Assam & grapefruit.”  I can certainly see the connection— there were definite citrus notes that reminded me of grapefruit, especially on the nose.  The Assam might come through in some of the herbal almost grassy notes which bear some semblance to maltiness.  A quality Longmorn and a great way to begin the evening tasting.