Longrow 14 year old Sherry Cask Single Malt (2018)

The Limited Edition releases that come out of Springbank distillery are usually pretty sought after be they Springbank, Hazelburn or indeed Longrow expressions and they can often be memorable. The Red series of Longrow has been a mixed bag, as is often the case for anything from our beloved Campbeltown distillery, but did provide a couple of drams that I thought were banging.

The variety of quality, and I know it's all subjective, gives us whisky nerds something to talk about at the very least.

One expression that proved very divisive is the one I'm reviewing today, the 14 year old sherry cask matured limited edition. This turned out to be liquid marmite as there was a pretty intense sulphur note to this release. For those sensitive to that particular note this whisky was about as inviting as a fart in a space suit. On the other hand for those that are partial to a bit of eggy goodness this dram was just engaging and a little bit mad.

Personally I was a bit taken aback by it when I first tried it but it gradually grew on me too the point that I nursed the bottle for as long as I humanly could.

As usual I'm incredibly behind the times in reviewing this, I mean it was released in July 2018! I think taking 7 years to actually finally get a review up is probably a record for me!

Anyway this was a limited release of 9,000 bottles. Distilled in September 2003 and matured in refill oloroso sherry casks it was bottled July 2018 at a strength of 57.8% abv. As usual from J & A Mitchell's this is natural colour and non chill filtered. I cannot for the life of me remember how much it cost on release but I think it was around £60.

Let's taste!

Nose: Dirty, oily and sulphurous. Rubber and dark chocolate, marmite and strong espresso. Brown sugar, plums and dates. Some spearmint too. Rancio notes and grilled mushroom. The Campbeltown funk is truly alive and kicking here.

Palate: Sherry followed by soot, an oily rag and peat smoke. It has a great oily texture. Strong and sweet black coffee, flat cola, roasted and salted assorted nuts, dry fried mushrooms and smoked meat. Some rubber too. In the background you can pick up dark dried fruit of dates and figs too.

Finish: Long - umami and sherry alongside salted nuts, peat smoke and farmyard funk.

Score: 8 out of 10

Overall: A bit of a bonkers Longrow this one and not an easy dram to get into but it’s complex, funky and intriguing. This release was certainly a marmite expression….you either loved it or you hated it. It took a little while to grow on me because it was really rather sulphurous but thankfully I can stand some sulphur and as the fill level dropped it became more and more approachable and enjoyable. Time was definitely this expressions friend.

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