Thanks for the honest review guys. I think this is why I'm absolutely not bothered chasing down these expressions any more. I'm not really sure how good I expect a bottle like this to be these days. It could work but it carries a fair amount of risk. As always with these fortified wines we know nothing about the provenance of the finishing cask. Was it Tawny Port intended for drinking and if so how old was it, etc? It's a decent four years finish in fairness but that is risky too as you emphasize. Springbank/Longrow 'funk' is a byword for a slightly (enjoyable) 'dirtiness' which is usually that distillery character with a sherry and bourbon combo. I love the distillery but it doesn't always come off though. I think no distillery, even Springbank, wants to discard poor casks after they've purchased them and sulphur taint is a risk with fortified casks. I once had a stinking Longrow 18 which was badly tainted. I guess the distillery thought 18 years would iron the batch out but not a chance. I opened it, oxidised it, left it and it improved a bit but the old adage of 'rubbish in, rubbish out' held true. The other thing is the 'port'. Port is sweet. Sherry, apart from PX, is not. Anybody buying this bottle should expect a sweet whisky with red notes. Maybe Springbank thought it was better to bottle this young in order to blend all the rough elements (which is what so many independent bottlers do these days) rather than continue to age and invest in a tainted batch. I haven't tasted this one but if you think 'it's bad' I don't know how you can score it 84/100. Dustin is right - BAD is below 80, especially when BAD is applied to a Unicorn bottling. (Amazing that bottles like these are considered unicorn but these are the times we live in.) Hope you enjoy the comment and my personal analysis. By the way, I like port but way prefer sherry (just my personal choice - no offence intended to port fans). I also prefer rich port rather than Tawny but I do have a recommendation. Ramos Pinto 20 is a well balanced modern aged Tawny with expressive red berry notes and a element of glycerine and acidic bite that I enjoy. Good price/quality ratio. Cheers. Welsh
I need to expand my port and sherry experience but sherry is a unicorn locally and ports while better are a bit of a challenge to jump into as well. I'm mostly with you Welsh, I'm not sure I'll keep buying the Red's as their prices are just getting too high. Last year's 15 was a joy, but about half their red have left me wanting more and I didn't mind that risk at 120-130. Now at 160 and at 700 vs 750 ml's, they have gone too far. Thankfully, the red is the only real "high risk" springbank in general. The rest is generally great, even if value is lacking. But bad and poor value? That's where I draw my line even for this wonderful distillery.
@@justwhisky It was an old one John. This was in the days when you could buy several previous vintages as well as the current release. They never used to run out and it was the old label. Personally, my favourite Longrow was the old 14 year expression which was discontinued. I have had a sulphured Springbank 18 as well but it just about got away with it.
There you go. That's the joy of beverages. We don't have to agree; It's not a competition or war. We really are a band of brothers and sisters that enjoy our drinks and expressing our opinions with one another.
@@welshtoro3256 If I want to be honest Welsh, these days I just watch and read whisky reviews mostly to see others opinion about a whisky and compare them to my own. One thing for sure is that this hobby is just very subjective. Before I buy this bottle I watched a video by bunch of people who went into the Springbank distillery and had a tasting there with a lady who is working at Springbank. Interesting enough this Longrow was everyone's favorites among almost 8-9 different expressions they tried including Local Barley, Sherry PX, KK port, sherry and bourbon as well as Hazelburn 12 and some other stuff. For me it's very enjoyable but not in that level for Dustin and Mike not so much maybe, and as you said it's the beauty of this hobby.
I enjoy ruby port but usually a bit too much grape and some sweetness. LOVE tawny ports, even at 10 years but especially 20 and 30 years with those dry, nutty and toasty notes.
Frankly I loved this one, even more than the Springbank 10 PX. Which was too sweet for me. Also was lucky to get the Kilkerran 16 2022 release, which has always been great IMO. Different strokes I guess….
The 10 PX requires you to certainly love that sticky sweet PX profile. If that isn't your jam, then there's no saving it. Same with this and the sulfur notes from the Port casks. If they are a deal breaker....it's done. If they aren't, it's an otherwise wonderful expression as noted.
“Toasted locker room clothing”😂😂😂, unfortunately I can’t confirm this as this the the first Longrow Red in years I haven’t managed to get my hands on. Nice review as always guys and great t-shirt Dustin.
Love your reviews. Don’t bother with bourbon reviews any more. Unless they drive your views, in which case by all means continue doing what you’re doing
Do we have a tendency to be harsh critics on the #1 world heavyweight champion? Or blcan they do no wrong in Campbeltown? I was happy to buy this at well under $200. I seem to come across LR Reds more than any other SB's and they are always good on specs and about $169. Hopefully, the next one will be at least a teenager. I recently opened an Edradour 10 Burgundy that is pure sulfur. Sucks that it requires so much work and time and water just to be able to enjoy it Doesn't the smell of rotten eggs kill the room when they dump the casks? This batch is what?10-12 casks? And nobody says "time out"
Check that fill level. That's been at mikes more than a month. It's not getting better. Maybe in 6-10 months. But right now i'm living that window open life. I'm sure some bug would find their way in. I haven't noticed any nats or anything, but watch them show up with an open wine finished scotch lol.
@@topshelfdustin3060 that's a shame it's that sulphury. I hope the Springbank 10 Palo Cortado isn't. My intuition says it's going to be great a be a mega hyped edition because of how good it will be. New Glenmo 12 L.E. Palo Cortado finally dropped here in Cali and Euro reviewers are all saying it's very good and it's $90. mid sherried and not saturated 2 year finish.
@@MrPsiman I have a review filmed that I'll eventually put on patreon....i swear..it's going to happen, lol. But it's of an arran palo cortado, and I can't say I'm excited about that finish on springbank. I don't get the hype myself.
@@djbeacon6895 it was the one you sent mike a sample of. I'm glad you said you weren't super fond of it. I don't recall hating it (and funny story, I filmed it like 3-4 times before I got a good filming, so I'm a bit buzzed by the end and the 2 oz sample was fully gone). I don't recall where I finally stood on it, but it didn't do anything special for me.
Just grabbed the PX and the 15 hazelburn, both great bottles imo, and set one of these to the side for later....maybe I'll save the $165 +tax for something else. I've never been huge on the Longrow Reds. Cheers!
@@topshelfdustin3060 yup, took 1 year from bottling to reach Indy area. sucks, but it least it finally showed up. same time as the PX and the Longrow 11 last Tuesday, along with the 2022 18 yo.
Thanks for the honest review guys. I think this is why I'm absolutely not bothered chasing down these expressions any more. I'm not really sure how good I expect a bottle like this to be these days. It could work but it carries a fair amount of risk. As always with these fortified wines we know nothing about the provenance of the finishing cask. Was it Tawny Port intended for drinking and if so how old was it, etc? It's a decent four years finish in fairness but that is risky too as you emphasize.
Springbank/Longrow 'funk' is a byword for a slightly (enjoyable) 'dirtiness' which is usually that distillery character with a sherry and bourbon combo. I love the distillery but it doesn't always come off though. I think no distillery, even Springbank, wants to discard poor casks after they've purchased them and sulphur taint is a risk with fortified casks. I once had a stinking Longrow 18 which was badly tainted. I guess the distillery thought 18 years would iron the batch out but not a chance. I opened it, oxidised it, left it and it improved a bit but the old adage of 'rubbish in, rubbish out' held true.
The other thing is the 'port'. Port is sweet. Sherry, apart from PX, is not. Anybody buying this bottle should expect a sweet whisky with red notes. Maybe Springbank thought it was better to bottle this young in order to blend all the rough elements (which is what so many independent bottlers do these days) rather than continue to age and invest in a tainted batch. I haven't tasted this one but if you think 'it's bad' I don't know how you can score it 84/100. Dustin is right - BAD is below 80, especially when BAD is applied to a Unicorn bottling. (Amazing that bottles like these are considered unicorn but these are the times we live in.)
Hope you enjoy the comment and my personal analysis. By the way, I like port but way prefer sherry (just my personal choice - no offence intended to port fans). I also prefer rich port rather than Tawny but I do have a recommendation. Ramos Pinto 20 is a well balanced modern aged Tawny with expressive red berry notes and a element of glycerine and acidic bite that I enjoy. Good price/quality ratio. Cheers. Welsh
WT, the tawnies I tried have mainly been Grahams and Taylor Fladgate. Will be on the lookout for Ramos Pinto.
I need to expand my port and sherry experience but sherry is a unicorn locally and ports while better are a bit of a challenge to jump into as well. I'm mostly with you Welsh, I'm not sure I'll keep buying the Red's as their prices are just getting too high. Last year's 15 was a joy, but about half their red have left me wanting more and I didn't mind that risk at 120-130. Now at 160 and at 700 vs 750 ml's, they have gone too far. Thankfully, the red is the only real "high risk" springbank in general. The rest is generally great, even if value is lacking. But bad and poor value? That's where I draw my line even for this wonderful distillery.
Curious Welch if you remember the Longrow 18 bottle date?
@@justwhisky It was an old one John. This was in the days when you could buy several previous vintages as well as the current release. They never used to run out and it was the old label. Personally, my favourite Longrow was the old 14 year expression which was discontinued. I have had a sulphured Springbank 18 as well but it just about got away with it.
@@welshtoro3256 thanks… I’ve got a L 14 tucked away as well as L18 2016 and a later one as well.
Cheers 🥃
Who likes Dustin’s shirt?
Yes.
A different take of onlyfans 😂
❤😂
I’d wear it happily.
New name of your channel
I missed out on Local Barley but really really liked this one. PX was also interesting for me.
There you go. That's the joy of beverages. We don't have to agree; It's not a competition or war. We really are a band of brothers and sisters that enjoy our drinks and expressing our opinions with one another.
@@welshtoro3256 If I want to be honest Welsh, these days I just watch and read whisky reviews mostly to see others opinion about a whisky and compare them to my own. One thing for sure is that this hobby is just very subjective. Before I buy this bottle I watched a video by bunch of people who went into the Springbank distillery and had a tasting there with a lady who is working at Springbank. Interesting enough this Longrow was everyone's favorites among almost 8-9 different expressions they tried including Local Barley, Sherry PX, KK port, sherry and bourbon as well as Hazelburn 12 and some other stuff. For me it's very enjoyable but not in that level for Dustin and Mike not so much maybe, and as you said it's the beauty of this hobby.
I enjoy ruby port but usually a bit too much grape and some sweetness. LOVE tawny ports, even at 10 years but especially 20 and 30 years with those dry, nutty and toasty notes.
I recommended Ramos Pinto 20 in my comment.
Frankly I loved this one, even more than the Springbank 10 PX. Which was too sweet for me. Also was lucky to get the Kilkerran 16 2022 release, which has always been great IMO. Different strokes I guess….
The 10 PX requires you to certainly love that sticky sweet PX profile. If that isn't your jam, then there's no saving it. Same with this and the sulfur notes from the Port casks. If they are a deal breaker....it's done. If they aren't, it's an otherwise wonderful expression as noted.
“Toasted locker room clothing”😂😂😂, unfortunately I can’t confirm this as this the the first Longrow Red in years I haven’t managed to get my hands on.
Nice review as always guys and great t-shirt Dustin.
If you're going to miss a release, this was the one. Hope we were able to enjoy last years 15 year-old.
What the hell is a red banana lol
🤣🤣🤣
Love your reviews. Don’t bother with bourbon reviews any more. Unless they drive your views, in which case by all means continue doing what you’re doing
bourbon does NOT bring in the views at all, but it's our biggest opportunity for growth and we're limited on what we have to review.
Do we have a tendency to be harsh critics on the #1 world heavyweight champion? Or blcan they do no wrong in Campbeltown?
I was happy to buy this at well under $200. I seem to come across LR Reds more than any other SB's and they are always good on specs and about $169. Hopefully, the next one will be at least a teenager.
I recently opened an Edradour 10 Burgundy that is pure sulfur.
Sucks that it requires so much work and time and water just to be able to enjoy it
Doesn't the smell of rotten eggs kill the room when they dump the casks? This batch is what?10-12 casks? And nobody says "time out"
Thankfully this wasn't egg fart sulfer! They've done with with KK 8 sherry, but to date the springbank/longrow sulfer has been much more enjoyable.
leave the bottle uncorked for a couple days and it should let the sulphur diminish some
Check that fill level. That's been at mikes more than a month. It's not getting better. Maybe in 6-10 months. But right now i'm living that window open life. I'm sure some bug would find their way in. I haven't noticed any nats or anything, but watch them show up with an open wine finished scotch lol.
@@topshelfdustin3060 that's a shame it's that sulphury. I hope the Springbank 10 Palo Cortado isn't. My intuition says it's going to be great a be a mega hyped edition because of how good it will be. New Glenmo 12 L.E. Palo Cortado finally dropped here in Cali and Euro reviewers are all saying it's very good and it's $90. mid sherried and not saturated 2 year finish.
@@MrPsiman I have a review filmed that I'll eventually put on patreon....i swear..it's going to happen, lol. But it's of an arran palo cortado, and I can't say I'm excited about that finish on springbank. I don't get the hype myself.
@topshelfdustin3060 The Masters of Distilling II from Arran? I haven't been able to enjoy that one yet but I keep trying.
@@djbeacon6895 it was the one you sent mike a sample of. I'm glad you said you weren't super fond of it. I don't recall hating it (and funny story, I filmed it like 3-4 times before I got a good filming, so I'm a bit buzzed by the end and the 2 oz sample was fully gone). I don't recall where I finally stood on it, but it didn't do anything special for me.
Just grabbed the PX and the 15 hazelburn, both great bottles imo, and set one of these to the side for later....maybe I'll save the $165 +tax for something else. I've never been huge on the Longrow Reds. Cheers!
You just got the 15 HB? Wow, seem's the 12's are slowly showing up.
@@topshelfdustin3060 yup, took 1 year from bottling to reach Indy area. sucks, but it least it finally showed up. same time as the PX and the Longrow 11 last Tuesday, along with the 2022 18 yo.
@@DarkSalmonz weird, two very different releases. Glad you got one!
Wow! I’m shocked at this rating. Toasted gym socks or jock straps. Yuck
More socks and shirts. It's wasn't my favorite.