Longrow CV

With a second glass, the spiciness is coming forward with a lot of ginger on both th.e palate and the finish. There is also a lot of citrus that I didn't mention because it is obvious and that is not what makes this dram stand alone by itself.

@Robert99. I've had a few bottles of BAD scotch that had the same sour herbal taste. The last one was a 2011 or 2012 bottle of Bunnahabhain 12y.

I have my idea what the cause is. Bad casks , rotted or contaminated staves. I visited several bourbon distilleries in Kentucky and I saw mountains of empty barrels in fields behind the bottling building.

These barrels are disassembled and shipped to Scotland where the coopers there reassemble them. If the distillery or cooper don't care, BAD staves are used and these barrels contaminate the whiskey. I have no proof although if you see empty bourbon barrels in a field in the rain in the mud, it makes you wonder. If there is any truth to this, it's a crime to waste good whiskey with something that is preventable. If the cooper sees any suspect staves throw them away. I saw plenty of old barrels Forsale that looked and smelled awful.

What do you think the cause of the sour herbal tastes in these bad bottles?

@Benancio I am not glad to know that I am not the only one to get that sour herbal note, but I am reassured about my tasting abilities. Those reviews of Springbank were so great, it was a big disappointment for me. I do have an hypothesis about the cause but it is not an educated guess since I have never visited a distillery. You will let me know if I am within the scope. I thing it may have to do with the freshness of the peat. If the peat is piled before being used, it may formed cavities with moisture where decomposition may formed therefore some rotten tastes. So what do you think?

@Robert99 It's obvious from the bad smell or sour tastes that there is a contamination in the process. I use to make my own beer and I have had spoiled batches. The bad beer was caused by contaminated beer mash. Could the scotch mash become contaminated? I think if you distilled a bad mash would produce bad whiskey. Contaminated peat fits the hypothesis.

I went with the bad bourbon barrel hypothesis because I thought it smelled and taste like rotten wood. Not that I have tasted rotten wood. It does smell like decomposition , might be rotten peat. . I can't recall if I have ever had a bourbon with these sour herbal taste.

Can peat really spoil? (Or, for that matter, can it be "fresh"?)

Peat's a crazy, weird, wonderful thing.

@Benancio I went with the peat because of my experience with the three Campbeltown that I have. Hazelburn, the least peated was ok with an intriguing back note more like lemon grass. As for Springbank and Longrow, it's the big difference between the two peats that is questioning me. The Longrow has a peat with a big petroleum taste and a bit of the sour herbal note while the Springbank was all herbal and rotten without petroleum. On the other hand, the Springbank didn't have as much the buttery pecan taste that I have on the sweet side of the two others and that I assume is coming from the malt. So maybe it's the malt.At the end, I supposed the real question we should asked is "Is this bad taste the result of pur bad luck or of negligence or even worst poor choices and poor management?" The answer would influenced my opinion of the distillery.