Origin: Campbeltown (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 47.6%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Sherry Oloroso and ex-Port
Chillifiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: J& A Mitchell & Co Ltd.
Average price: € 220.00
Official website: springbank.scot
Vote: 89/100
Special bottlings for the equivalent of Islay’s Fèis Ìle (but necessarily smaller in size), the Campbeltown Malts Festival, which this year took place between 23 and 26 May and involved Glen Scotia, Glengyle, Cadenhead’s and, of course, Springbank with its three labels.
Springbank’s Open Day was held on 25 May, with lots of events and the chance to buy one of the 1,920 decidedly important (even in price) 35cl bottles of this limited edition, full cask strength and double matured in ex-oloroso sherry and port for almost a quarter of a century.
Tasting notes
The nose is greeted by elegant and sinuous fruit, peach, ripe melon and red fruits dance between the nostrils wrapped in a veil of mineral and earthy peat, with a balsamic thread, leaving behind a trail of white chocolate. The roasted part slowly emerges, but more than smoke we are on the side of coffee, accompanied by a faint hint of cinnamon and, in the background, sweetened ricotta cheese with cinnamon. In time, a puff of smoke peeps out of the glass, with barely hinted vinous notes closing the aromas. Rich and layered.
On the palate, it begins with a soapy note that lasts just long enough to arch an eyebrow, giving way to a more evident if subdued smoke, with the vinous part invading the palate with the tartness of red fruits and pink grapefruit, but it is a veil that soon opens up to the sweeter, more accepting fruit on the nose. Evocations of coffee and chocolate return, with hints of trifle on the length. The mineral and slightly balsamic background also returns, with a saline touch that leads you to look at the glass with a certain voluptuousness.
Long, dry finish of ash, white fruit, mineral and balsamic notes, saline tips.
A complex, articulate whisky that demands and deserves time, with so many nuances that even the slightest jarring is interesting. A pressing, stimulating and demanding dram.