Scotch Whisky Cask, Longmorn, 2008

Longmorn has quietly provided a sweet and deeply fruity component to a variety of blends since its inception. Its fermentation is long and distillation is carried out in eight thick-neck stills, resulting in a spirit that is weighty enough to age well in both ex-sherry and ex-bourbon.

Longmorn was founded by one of the most interesting whisky entrepreneurs of the 19th century, John Duff. He was born in Aberchirder, worked in GlenDronach and, after designing nearby Glenlossie in 1876, went to South Africa to try to set up a whisky industry there. He failed (as most do) and went to the USA to try his luck. After another setback, he returned home and, undeterred, built Longmorn in 1893. Five years later he built another next door - Benriach.

It was not an ideal time to build two new plants and in 1899 he was forced to sell to James Grant. Although Duff's business did not do well, his whisky was good, and by the early 20th century Longmorn was an award-winning malt used in a number of blends including VAT 69 and Dewar's. In 1920, the young Masataka Taketsuru, one of the fathers of Japanese whisky and founder of Nikka, worked at the distillery for a short time. The stills of the two Nikka distilleries are said to be modelled on the Longmorn stills.

In 1970, the Grant family and blender Hill Thompson (who had a long relationship with Longmorn) merged with The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd to form The Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd, which was bought out by Seagram in 1977 and became part of Chivas Brothers (without Glen Grant). In 2001, this construct was bought by Pernod Ricard.