A bottling done five years ago to commemorate the 700th Anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, logically in 1314 AD. It was released by Springbank distillery, so logically this would be rather similar to their Campbeltown Loch series.

Also, a thirty year old blended whisky that, when released, cost less than 100 pounds, if memory serves. It has slowly crawled up to 160 quid by now, so not everything is going mental after a few years of collecting dust.

I got a sample back in the day and didn’t get around to it. Then it got lost in the masses until I randomly grabbed it to take on holiday a couple of weeks ago. I finally tried it, and reviewed it.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Light and malty, some fruits like apples pears. Some vanilla, and grain whisky sweetness. Custard, apple crumble.

Sip:
Quite a bit sharper than I expected. Lots of dry grain, some salinity and minerals. Iron, apples, slate.

Swallow:
The finish gets even more grainy. Lots of dry grains ans some salinity. Not much oak

Surprisingly light on the oak. It’s a bit less smoky and less oak driven than I expected from a thirty year old made by Springbank Distillers. As in, the vanilla is an oak flavor, but it’s not very woody, which I expected a bit more of.

All in all it’s a nice dram that warrants its original price tag. However, I do remember the Campbeltown Loch 30 years old more fondly than I do this one. It’s just not very special, not very different from the norm.

86/100

Spirit of Freedom 30 year old, btld 2014, 46%