Origin: Campbeltown (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Sherry and ex-Rum
Chillfiltered: No
Additional Coloring: No
Owner: J & A Mitchell & Co Ltd.
Average price: € 650.00
Official website: springbank.scot
Vote: 87/100
Springbank is one of those distilleries that unleashes the basest instincts in whisky aficionados and collectors, with each special release being eagerly awaited and ending up sold out in the blink of a butterfly’s wings, only to be found in a matter of minutes on the secondary market at a price that has already tripled.
Certainly we cannot blame the producers, who even when it comes to limited editions apply an absolutely reasonable list price, even if in certain cases a minimum of shrewdness would have been required, as for the 10-year version dedicated to fundraising for the Ukraine: releasing it at the price of the normal one, knowing full well that it would end up on the secondary market at (immorally, in this case) exorbitant prices, was a move that to define naive is an understatement.
But then again, we are interested in the liquid contained in the bottle, not in market strategies (nor in the discouraging ugliness of these labels).
A 2019 edition for this quarter-century-old Springbank, released in only 1,200 bottles, made up of a single malt 60 per cent aged in ex-Sherry casks and 40 per cent in ex-Rum casks and, as usual, with no adulteration beyond dilution to lower the alcohol content.
Tasting notes
On the nose, you get the impression that it’s the rum which has most affected the aromas, with a clear predominance of tropical notes (pineapple, grapefruit, mango, lychee) intertwined with peach juice, muscovado sugar, wood stripper, wet leaves. And where did the sherry go? In the background, giving thickness and depth with its light but decisive contribution of red fruits (raspberries, wild strawberries) and milk toffee. Brushstrokes of blood orange and a slight metallic inflection complete the picture. The smoke slips between the interstices, an almost ectoplasmic presence. Complex and engaging, not exactly a people pleaser.
At the opening, the smoke seems to take shape and substance, but it’s only a brief flicker before returning to the background, leaving room for a more heterogeneous ride of fruit, with citrus inflections, lashed by a good dose of black pepper and ginger. Pear, peach, tropical fruit and ripe citrus tinged with vegetal and metallic inflections, with a good dose of salt sprinkled over the flavours that pushes salivation and the desire to bring the glass back to the lips. At length, salty pistachio and coffee appear.
The finish is very dry and saline, a mixture of ash, vegetable notes, coffee beans, spicy touches and tropical fruit.
A whisky that’s difficult to pin down, unsuitable for everyday drinking, requiring (and deserving) time and patience to be dissected in all its facets. Although, personally, I find that it loses some strength and incisiveness on the palate, perhaps requiring a few more degrees to be explosive.