I last reviewed the Springbank 15 more than six years ago. That review was of a bottle of the 2017 release. Today I have for you a review of a bottle from the 2018 release. Or rather, as per the very hard to find code on the bottle, it was bottled in 2018: my guess is it didn’t hit the market till 2019 (if I am reading the code correctly, it was bottled quite late in 2018). By the way, the code is not actually hard to find. It was for me because before opening the bottle I was squinting around the bottom, as that’s where I remembered it being etched/printed. Of course, when I gave up and removed the foil, there it was right at the top of the bottle. An exciting story, I think you will agree, full of the kind of dramatic tension and moral ambiguity that marks great works of literature. You’re welcome. More pertinent information is that the Springbank 15 used to be one of my very favourite whiskies, and the fact that I have lost touch with it has to do only with the fact that all Springbank seems to have become heavily allocated in the United States—with prices rising to match. Not that I buy very much whisky any more but even before I’d slowed down/come to an almost complete stop, it had become very hard to find any Springbank in Minnesota. A far cry from when we moved here in 2007, when a store in Minneapolis—famous for retailing a very wide selection of OB single malts at only 10% markup—was selling it for all of $68. Ah, those were the days. Anyway, here are my notes on this bottle.

Springbank 15 (46%; 2018 Release; from my own bottle)

Nose: A very nice Springbank sherry complex: dried orange peel, damp earth, rock salt, a hint of apricot. As it sits, the sweeter notes expand a bit but it’s mostly in the same vein as from when first poured. Water pushes the salt and the earthy notes back and pulls out a bit of cream.

Palate: Everything from the nose plus crushed coriander seed, lime and a bit of amchur (dried mango powder). Perfect drinking strength and texture. Not much change with time but why would I want it to? Okay, let’s see what water does to/for it. Well, it dilutes it.

Finish: Long. Nothing new here but nothing new is needed. Nothing here too with water at first but after a few beats the lime and the salt expand anew.

Comments: Not a whisky for the true sulphur-phobe but very much the whisky for me (and no water needed). I haven’t stepped inside a liquor store in months but I’m tempted to set out this week to see if anyone in the Twin Cities has any of this year’s release of Springbank 15 in stock.

Rating: 90 points.