Another Springbank, and finally one that is easily available in the US. It’s hard for me to remember exactly but I think the Springbank 15 may have been one of the first whiskies for which I paid in excess of $60. I knew nothing about Springbank at the time; I barely had a sense that Campbeltown was a traditional whisky region in its own right. At the time I was buying bottles on spec to be able to taste a wide range of whiskies, and this was one of the first expensive bottles that I replaced as soon as I finished it. (I think it may even have been my gateway bottle to buying more expensive bottles–I think the Highland Park 18 may have been next.) At any rate, ever since I first bought it I’ve always had one on hand. There’s some batch variation from year to year, but I don’t think I’ve ever had one I did not like. This one, in fact, from 2010, was a little disappointing when I first opened it, but time and air did wonders for the bottle. Continue reading
Category Archives: Springbank
Longrow 18
The Longrow 18, like the Longrow 14, boasts the legend “Heavily Peated” on its label, but, as with the younger sibling, it’s not quite what you might expect from a heavily peated malt. For my general views on recent Longrows (and I don’t mean to give the impression that I have had any from earlier eras) see the older review. For now, let’s dive into this one, which is from the 2011 release:
Longrow 18 (46%; from my own bottle)
Nose: Austere, briny, flinty. Whiffs of gunpowder, and also something sweet and organic (farmy). Not so very different from the 14 yo. Gets more minerally with time. With more time the farmy/peaty note gets rounder and comes to the front. There’s some apple peels in there too now. A drop of water brings out some lemon/citronella, and some menthol too. Later there’s some sweeter fruit in there too, but I’m having trouble picking what it is–oranges dipped in salt, maybe (do anyone other than Indians eat oranges with salt? I’m sure they must).
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Springbank, Rundlets & Kilderkins
Springbank is one of my favourite distilleries, and, as I have noted before, they put out a lot of iterations of their malt. This particular bottling’s unusual name refers not to underwear worn by dwarves in Middle Earth but to particularly small casks in which the malt is placed for a brief second maturation after longer maturation in, I believe, ex-bourbon casks in which this malt is matured for 10 years. It’s a very successful experiment, I think, though I am less sure about the blinged out bottle (see below for full blinding effect). I hope they will be making this whisky a regular offering.
This was distilled in November 2001 and bottled in January 2012.
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Longrow 14 (2011 Release)
Longrow is the name of the “heavily peated” whisky produced at the Springbank distillery (Hazelburn is the unpeated and triple-distilled whisky produced there). I put “heavily peated” in quotes because even though those words are on the labels, I’ve not found the 14 yo or the 18 yo I have tried to be particularly heavily peated, and the same is true of the few sherry/wine cask Longrows I’ve tried; of all the (not very many) Longrows I’ve tried the now-defunct CV was the smokiest–I have no idea if its replacement (the “Peated”) is as smoky or more/less.
Or, it may be the case that the flavours and aromas I associate with high levels of peat are the pungent phenolic and smoky notes of the peated Islays whereas the peat used at Springbank may impart other kinds of qualities. Be that as it may, this Longrow 14 seems to me to have far more in common with peatier Clynelishes and even some Highland Parks and Taliskers than it does with peated Islay whiskies, or even peated Highland/Speyside malts like those made at Ardmore, Benromach or Edradour (Ballechin) whose smokiness I find to have a barny/farmyardy quality (also true of Ledaig from Mull). This particular bottle is from the 2011 release and was opened in August of 2011. It got to the halfway mark a couple of months ago. I included it in a tasting I hosted for some friends last night and it was quite popular. My notes here are a blend of the abbreviated notes I took last night (when I did not add any water), and those recorded tonight as I finished off the bottle and paid a little closer attention (and added a little water at the end). Continue reading
Springbank 14, 1997 (for K&L)
Another official Springbank bottled for K&L in California. This one is from a single refill madeira butt. I bought this because I am a fan of Springbank in general but more particularly because the old Springbank 11, 1997 Madeira Cask (a non-single cask general release) was a favourite before it disappeared. Looking at the colour of the whisky, however, I would guess that the 11 yo had a lot more first-fill madeira casks in the vatting. Either that or this single cask just happens to be from a refill butt that did not impart as much colour: in short, this is not as dark as its younger sibling bottled three years previous. But that’s not terribly interesting information in and of itself. Let’s see what this is like on the nose and palate.
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Springbank 13, 1998, Fresh Bourbon Barrel
Continuing with another cask bottled specially for an American retail store, here is a Springbank bottled for K&L, the well-known Californian retailer. I have some quibbles with some of the promotional habits of this store–of which more in a later post–but they do select interesting bottles from time to time. And this is certainly an interesting one, as it’s not always easy to find Springbanks from ex-bourbon casks. The distillery is known for its ex-sherry matured whiskies, and the wood expression series previously released in the US were first a bunch of 12 year olds from different kinds of sherry casks, and a few years later another bunch of 14 year olds from a range of sherry casks. They’ve also released a series of whiskies matured or double matured in other wine casks–claret, madeira, marsala–and even rum and more recently, a calvados cask. They’re a family owned concern and tend to do things their own way–every aspect of the production process is carried out on their premises, where they also produce the Longrow and Hazelburn ranges. Continue reading