Review: Longmorn 30 Years Old

By David Tao | January 5, 2025 |

Chivas Brothers’-owned Longmorn has been operating since the late 19th century, but until recently, it’s largely been imbibed via blended Scotch or the occasional independent bottling. As part of the Pernod Ricard family of brands, the distillery has recently emerged as a name producer in its own right, introducing both 18 and 22 year old expressions to the American market.

Now, Longmorn is upping the ante with the distillery’s oldest-ever release under their own brand name: a 30 year single malt. It’s intended to be an annual, non-chill filtered, cask strength bottling (in this case 89 proof). Let’s see how it tastes!

Longmorn 30 Years Old Review

Fruity and floral to start on the nose, Longmorn 30 carries waves of orchard fruit including ripe pears, honeycrisp apples, sliced apricots, and a tiny undercurrent of lavender. Fruit syrup gets more pronounced with time in the glass, in addition to increased holiday spice and a touch of dried, cured oak. That oak eventually pushes the fruit syrup into slightly tarter territory, evoking preserved pineapple and dried mango. It’s near the intersection of Longmorn’s recent 18 and 22 year old expressions, though perhaps exemplifying the best of both without the over-restraint noticed on the latter bottling.

Sweet and cooling at the first sip, Longmorn 30 opens on the tongue with fresh mint sprigs and honey syrup; it’s vaguely reminiscent of a diluted mint julep. That familiar Longmorn toffee is also present, akin to dark praline with a backbone of toasted nuts that carries through the back of the palate. Sweetness builds on the midpalate to creamy, condensed milk caramel, punctuated by papaya and more canned, sliced pineapple. Cinnamon dust and dry oak lead the transition from the mid to back palates, where the whisky dials down on sweetness and up on both spice and leathery tannins.

When reviewing last year’s 18 and 22 year expressions, I noticed a slight dropoff in the finish’s length as the whisky increased in age. But Longmorn 30 doesn’t falter where the 22 year old did (albeit just slightly). Here we’ve got a moderate length finish, which dips into cigar and pipe tobacco while maintaining some residual fruit and (pleasantly) vanilla meringue.

89 proof.

A- / $1883 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]