Longmorn 1973-2002 - Blackadder Raw Cask - Single Cask 3974 - Miniature

One of the greatest Speyside distilleries, Longmorn was founded in 1894 and today is one of the shiniest stars in owner Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Brothers portfolio of whisky distilleries. Although official bottlings are thin on the ground, Longmorn’s whisky was for many years bottled under license by Gordon & MacPhail, who have released a high proportion of the all-time classic Longmorns and still put out outstanding long-aged Longmorn today.

Longmorn’s whisky sparkles in both sherry and bourbon casks and is capable of withstanding extremely long maturation periods while still retaining (particularly in the older vintages) a superb old-school waxiness and the distillery’s trademark grapefruit and exotic fruit flavours, with the fruitiest examples coming from the mid-1970s and earlier. Older vintages also generally have more prominent threads of smoke and mineral notes among the honeyed fruit and chocolate biscuit flavours.

Blackadder International is an independent whisky bottler founded in 1995 by John Lamond and Robin Tucek, authors of the seminal whisky book The Malt Whisky File, originally published in 1987. Lamond stepped down in 2001 and the company is now run by Tucek and his children Hannah and Michael. Blackadder’s Raw Cask range famously includes harmless cask sediment added to each bottle - a practice that raises eyebrows and attracts fans in equal measure.

Mild controversies aside, Blackadder International deserve a lot of credit for helping popularise cask strength whisky in the 1990s and for eschewing artificial colouring and chill filtration long before it was fashionable to do so. Blackadder’s hugely impressive back catalogue now stands at well over 1500 whiskies and includes sensational drams from distilleries including Longmorn, Springbank and Highland Park - a testament to the success of the company’s old school approach.