Longrow Cage Bottle 9yo Fresh Sherry

THE HOLY SPIRITS VIEWA close sibling to the previous Longrow Duty Paid Sample — same 2015 distillation, drawn from cask a year later, one of Springbank's tightly rationed, distillery-only Duty Paid Samples. Distilled 23 January 2015, bottled 25 October 2024 — a single fresh sherry cask, cask strength, 56.4% ABV. An extra year and a slightly lower strength than its sister cask from the same distillation date, giving the sherry wood a touch more time to work. TASTING NOTESSmoke first, thick and resinous, dark fruit pushing in fast — raisin, blackcurrant, a savoury tar note underneath. Damp bonfire ash, iodine, dried fig deepening with air. Palate rich, oily, smoked meat and treacle toffee meeting sherry sweetness, peat holding its ground better than the younger sibling, clove and burnt orange peel threading through the middle. Dark chocolate late, bitter and pleasing. Finish long, smoke and sherry entwined, slow to fade. A little rounder, a touch more integrated than the 8 Year Old — that extra year showing. Brooding, proper Longrow. Serve: Neat, in a Glencairn glass — cask strength leaves room for a drop of water, but worth tasting neat first to catch the smoke-and-sherry balance.