Tasting Date: 2021-06-09
Region: Scotch Whisky – Speyside
Type: Single malt
Age Statement: 16Years
Size: 750ml
ABV: 48% ABV
Cask Type: Ex-Sherry, American and traditional oak casks
Distiller: Longmorn Distillery
Location: Longmorn Cres, Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland
Bottler: Longmorn Distillery
Purchase Location: Wine and Beyond St. Albert 760 St Albert Trail Unit 200, St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Purchase Date: June 3rd 2021
Cost: $262.59 including GST & Deposit
Tasting Notes From The Pernod Ricard New Zealand Website:
None, this bottle is not even listed on the American website, there is no Canadian site.
From the box back: [ ] The result is an enticing whisky of outstanding flavour: rich with aromas of ripe orchard fruits, hints of sweet vanilla, and luxuriously smooth milk chocolate notes with an indulgently full-flavoured finish.
Colour: Rich Amber (Non Chill-Filtered)
TransparentSmoke Review: My wife surprised me on our 20th anniversary with this bottle of Longmorn Aged 16 Years. I had my eye on a bottle of this for a while, and I had added it to my wish list of untried whiskies. You have to imagine my surprise on receiving it, as I haven’t published the list yet. I tried it immediately.
This is a beautiful dram, filled with complex flavours and a wonderful oily mouth feel. Lots is made online as to the changes that happened in 2016 when they updated to this new purple bottle. They say if you can find the older grey green brown bottling with the tab on the neck that predates this, it is worth every penny. The older version replaced the Longmorn Aged 15 year in 2007 and was produced till 2016.
The old one is a collectors product at this point, and almost exclusively relegated to the secondary markets, the best most of us mortals can do is be happy to find the purple version. This specific purple bottle is date stamped on the back as 2016/06/20 with a bottling code of LPNK1045 which really surprised me as my research shows this be the first release of the new bottling. Making it nearly five years old at the time of this review.
Since receiving this I have been scouring the internet and have a half a dozen places I need to call or swing buy this weekend to see it they might just have another of these Longmorn Aged 16 years on the shelf for me to purchase. The online pricing seems to vary from $199.99 through to $249.99. It will fun to get out and about again and see if Longmorn Aged 16 years exists anywhere, because as much as I have been looking for it, I haven’t seen it out there. My wife says when she saw it, she didn’t hesitate to grab it, because she too hasn’t seen it available anywhere.
I really liked the heavy influence of the bourbon casks on the nose. The dram is sweet forward and reminds me a lot of Glenmorangie the Original. Just saying that is too simple though, the Glenmorangie notes are mixed up with so much more. I can identify extra notes in the Longmorn of apple, white pepper, faint brown sugar and vanilla citrus.
The palate is where this goes from complicatedly intense, to absolutely riveting. It is oily and thick and allows the whisky to be rolled easily through the mouth. Hints of butterscotch and a strong pepper spike, as it crosses your tongue, give way to a chest burn that makes you pause and enjoy. Floral notes and honey pop onto your palate at the end and leave you wondering if they were always there. So you take another sip to have the same journey begin again.
Our Score: 93/100
Bottles on Hand: 
