Longmorn was founded in 1894 by John Duff, a former Glenlossie manager, on the road between Elgin and Rothes. Within a decade it had become one of the most respected malts in the region among blenders, who prized its rich, waxy, tropical-fruited spirit for the backbone it lent to premium blends. It passed through Glenlivet Distillers, Seagram, and in 2001 into Chivas Brothers.
For a distillery so adored by the trade, Longmorn has had a curiously low profile with the public. For years the only official bottling was a 15 Year Old, a quiet cult favourite, replaced in 2007 by a 16 and more recently augmented with older releases. Connoisseurs have long insisted Longmorn belongs in the same conversation as The Macallan and Glenfarclas; the price of independent bottlings suggests the market agrees.
A 23 Year Old — the age of the current flagship launched in 2022 — showcases exactly why. Longmorn's spirit carries tropical fruit better than almost any other Speysider, and two decades of oak layer that mango-and-pineapple core with spice, honey and sherry depth without flattening it. Bottled at 48%, it has the weight to carry the age.
It is expensive, and deservedly so. Longmorn at 23 is the sort of malt that reminds you how much of Speyside's reputation was built by distilleries most drinkers have never heard of.
