It is no secret that I love Springbank. It more or less embodies everything I like so much about the world of whisky. They are a small company that works on a rather local scale without much happening outside of Campbeltown. They focus on the craft of the whisky making in such a way that the distillery is actually a working museum, especially compared to a lot of the newer distilleries.

Then, on top of everything, the whisky is generally awesome. Even their regular 10 year old is a stellar dram and you can’t get a much better dram at € 45-ish.

In recent years, though, the independent bottlings of the brand have become increasingly rare, and when they are available, the price point is something to make you think twice, or three times.

The biggest drawback of these rather expensive whiskies is that, when you try them, they’re generally still worth it…

Luckily, sometimes you still have a random sample of a random bottling from a couple of years ago, when things were more achievable. This one currently sets you back less than € 90. It’s not cheap for a 10/11 year old whisky, but it’s not that shocking either. Unfortunately, you would have to go to Germany to get a bottle.

Image from The Whisky Cask

Sniff:
Slightly moldy, but otherwise rather gentle sherry, especially for Springbank. Fruity with caramel apples, oak, leather and barley.

Sip:
The palate is sharp in a very nice way, not too much but nicely challenging. The malt floor is present, as are leather and wood. There’s more caramel, dates, plums.

Swallow:
The finish has a bit of woody sharpness, and the caramel fruity flavors linger.

While this is not a whisky that will rock your world, it is proof that Springbank is cracking. At 10 years old, this scores much higher than many other, older and more expensive whiskies. The cask is not overpowering and leaves plenty of room for the distillate to shine through. It’s feinty, fruity and old fashioned. Great stuff!

87/100

Springbank 2004-2015, Sherry Hogshead MoS 15039, 51.9%, Malts of Scotland. Available here.