Whisky : Longmorn 15 Year SMWS 7.247 Minty seahorse bandage

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 60.8%

Cask : Ex-Bourbon (14Y), Refill Nicaraguan Rum (1Y)

Age : 15 Years (Distilled 7 Sept. 2004)

Nose : Fruity, salty, and oily.  Opened with watermelon saltwater taffy, melon rind, citrus candies, and nutty browned butter.  Subtle almost antiseptic-bitter notes of Thai sweet basil and menthol.  The floral-herbal quality lent itself to the idea of fresh washed sheets.

Palate : Oily and viscous with a fruit-salty profile.  Ripe apple bananas, banana split salted caramel Sunday, and a banana flambé.  Salt and wood came through as buttery fried pastries stuffed with vanilla cream.  Toward the end were custardy tropical fruits— lilikoi, cherimoya, and jackfruit.

Finish : Long buttery finish with tropical fruits and salt.

Score : 8

Mental Image : McDonald’s Taro Pie

Notes : This was absolutely fabulous and it was my favorite of the night at a recent virtual tasting.  While I was the only one who pegged it as a best in the evening (a few votes went to 10.193 a meaty Staoisha and a few to 143.1 a tea-fruit heavy American single malt from Copperworks), this was #2 in just about everyone’s list.  

The refill rum barrel brought loads of interesting fruit to the nose, but really shined on the palate with banana upfront and then more nondescript creamy tropical fruits on the finish.  The combination of fruity-pastry Longmorn and the rum finish was excellent and well integrated.  I wish the spirit had been a tad heavier on the palate, it was not too light by any means, but just a bit more weight would have taken this over the top.

Overall, a harmonious combination of cask and malt which disappeared far too quickly from my glass.  Sometimes leftovers from tastings take me months to get back around to so I can retaste and type up my notes, but this time it only took a few days.