Origin: Campbeltown (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 54.1%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry
Chillfiltered: No
Additional Coloring: No
Owner: J & A Mitchell & Co Ltd.
Average price: € 400.00
Official website: springbank.scot
After a long absence, Springbank returns to these pages with the distillery’s unicorn, the annual Local Barley, which sells out almost before it is even released.
As is well known, this is a bottling made from barley grown in the Campbeltown area, with a different farmer chosen for each vintage, as age and maturation varies.
This year the farm is Glencraigs, using Belgravia barley, while the thirteen years on the label were matured 60% in ex-Bourbon casks and 40% in ex-Sherry casks, bottled at cask strength.
Tasting Notes
You open the dunnage doors and inhale the mixture of earth and damp wood that comes out of the glass, a frame that envelops rich fruity notes, a colourful bouquet whose list could go on and on: peach, apricot, cooked apple, pear juice, pineapple in syrup, kumquat… We also enter the pastry world, with freshly baked banana bread, candied fruit (orange, pineapple, coconut), sultanas, marzipan, sugar paste, acacia honey with waxy veins. Mineral tones, with sulphurous notes and an impression of jellied meat. On the palate, a light puff of smoke with notes of cocoa. Very rich and iridescent.
On the palate, the acidic notes of blackcurrant, gooseberry and pink grapefruit appear, with the complicity of black pepper and ginger, outlining a profile similar to the olfactory one, with the fruit arm in arm with the mineral and earthy aspects, along with the final cocoa, which is more present here. Liquorice root, cinchona, a hint of umami and plenty of minerality and salinity lead to a full and brilliant drink. The smoke reappears in the background, at the end, like extinguished embers. Subtle sweet aspects that wink between the flavours.
Long, salty finish with citrus, white fruit, cocoa, liquorice, chimney smoke and mineral notes.
The Local Barley that we have come to love, with all the complexity and richness that Springbank knows how to bring to its distillate, with a maturation of masterly balance. It’s a shame that it fetches absurd prices in a matter of days, but the quality is unquestionable.
Vote: 91/100