🥃 Longmorn

Longmorn is a distillery and brand of single malt Scotch whisky near Elgin, in Speyside. It was built by John Duff: Whiskypedia gives 1893, Difford's Guide gives 1894–1895. Most of the spirit goes into blends, few bottles are sold under the Longmorn name, and the distillery now belongs to Chivas Brothers, part of Pernod Ricard.

History. According to Difford's Guide, the name is linked to a holy man, Morgan, whose chapel once stood on the site. Duff went bankrupt while building the neighbouring BenRiach, and at the end of the 1890s the business was taken over by James Grant. In 1970 Longmorn merged with The Glenlivet and Glen Grant, then Seagram became the owner, and from 2001 it has been part of Pernod Ricard. In 1920 Masataka Taketsuru, later founder of Japan's Nikka, trained here.

How it is made. According to Whiskypedia, the distillery has eight onion-shaped stills; their number grew from four to eight in the 1970s. The malt is unpeated, fermentation lasts about 50 hours, and capacity is about 4.5 million litres a year. Blenders and collectors value the whisky, especially in Japan.

Range. There are few official versions: today the core range consists of the 18- and 22-year-olds, released as separate annual batches; the 15- and 16-year-olds have been discontinued, according to Whisky Advocate; The Spirits Business and Whisky Magazine reported the launch of the 18 and 22, and The Distiller's Choice, as far as available data show, is not part of the current range. Many bottles are released by independent bottlers.

Why this matters to you. Longmorn rarely appears under its own name, so you are more likely to see bottles from independent bottlers on the shelf: their age, casks and strength differ from the official versions. Read the label in full. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.