
April 26, 2016

More Springbank from the library

I know we're tasting Springbank very often. But since they've become the grand cru of all Scottish grands crus again (in my opinion), even every day wouldn't quite be enough. Clearly #1, if you ask me, while so many marketers-distillers are going down down down...

Springbank 12 yo 'Cask Strength' (54.1%, OB, batch #12, 2016)

I'm glad we have this popular baby in our glass again. The last batch we've tasted was #9, and we just loved it (WF 90). As they say, probably a no-brainer. Colour: pale gold. Nose: it's maybe a little more sherried than before, tenser, with more curry, also oak shavings, and ginger... But it's also very briny, seaside-y, smoky, kelpy (what?)... there's some menthol, horseradish, leather, cinchona... And all that works in sync, mind you! With water: swims like Ian Thorpe. Fast and good. Wet dogs (we really owe you, dogs), raw wool, mud, limestone, wet plaster, bandages... All that. Mouth (neat): same feeling, there's rather more oak extracts than in others, more pepper, more curry again... It's really huge, sharp, almost pungent... Grapefruit peel, Jägermeister, ginger, leather, cigar tobacco (chewing your old puro when you're near its end)... With water: the citrus fruits come to the front. Much grass and even wasabi in the back. Finish: long, sharp, very zesty. Comments: totally huge, puts many an Islay to shame as far as texture and body are concerned. Same score all over again. SGP:362 - 90 points.

Springbank 22 yo 1993/2015 (51.8%, Sansibar, 150 bottles)

In my experience, these vintages have been more difficult. I remember I've tried several very varnishy and bitter ones, and some better ones as well. So, let's see... Colour: straw. Nose: very unusual indeed. Very young, less smoky, and oddly fruity. Rhubarb, green apples, greengages... well, any green fruits. Also sorrel and basil. Whiffs of wet clothes, fresh concrete, sour dough, leaven... As they say, the jury's still out. With water: hugely chalky. Damp chalk. Mouth (neat): really weird. Sucrose and green chilli, Schweppes Lemon, ginger ale, concentrated lemon juice... These singularities are very interesting, but they're perhaps more for friends who've already tried a good 100 'mainstream' Springbanks, just like you'd better listen to Bach and Mozart before Stockhausen and not the other way 'round (perhaps). With water: perhaps better, thanks to all this lemon that comes out. Eating plasticine and chalk - like we used to do when we were three, I suppose. Finish: long and drier. Branches and grass. Comments: Stockhausen indeed. Or there, Frank Zappa's last recordings. Some people will love this, some others will hate it. SGP:372 - 85 points.

Springbank 1972/1993 (46%, OB, for Tesco, rotation 93/132)

A lighter vatting of this well-known Springbank for Tesco, they had done another one in 1992 that's been darker. Maybe shall we have that one as well today... Colour: gold. Nose: awe. Beeswax and damp earth, then mirabelle pie and cough syrup, then pinesap and all honeys on earth. No need to write a novel, this is quite extraordinary. Mind you, Tesco! Mouth: fantastic, as expected. Spicy and waxy arrival (nutmeg and cinnamon - perhaps a notch drying - on some beeswax and sunflower oil), then blood oranges and pink grapefruits, then bags and bags of juicy ultra-ripe yellow plums and apricots. Some colourful malt whisky! Strength and body are perfect. Finish: long, always a tad drying, mainly on cloves and raisins. Some kind of old Alemannic Christmas cake, perhaps. A slightly gritty oakiness in the aftertaste. Comments: did I mention all the honeys there were in this little glory? Only the slightly drying oak will prevent me from going over... SGP:561 - 90 points.

Springbank 1972/1992 (46%, OB, for Tesco, rotation 92/336)

So this one was bottled a few months earlier. Indeed it's a little darker... Colour: full gold. Nose: different, earthier, waxier, and less on honeys and ripe fruits. So a little more austere, and probably closer to the distillery's contemporary offerings. Old cellar, mushrooms, moss, more mushrooms... It's also a little more coastal (seaweed, driftwood on a beach after high tide...) Mouth: ha! Clearly sharper, bigger, wilder, more lemony, more, ach, 'Clynelish', more mineral... If the other one was for the lounge, this one's for your hipflask! And it's right up my alley, I utterly adore this sharper and slightly smokier style. Finish: long, zesty, citrusy, mineral. In short, Rieslingy (ja ja). Comments: clearly not the same vatting that had been bottled in two goes. Wonderful wilder old Springbank. Yes they had it good at Tesco's in the early 1990s. SGP:462 - 92 points.

That one called for a last one. Why not one that I had already tried twelve years ago for WF, without writing any really 'serious' tasting notes?

Springbank 1969/1997 (46%, Murray McDavid, sherry, cask #MM7787)

Have you seen that Murray McDavid are very active again? They have many strange blended malts carrying funny Gaelic names, we'll try some soon. But in the meantime... Colour: full gold. Nose: much more old wood, forest, damp fir cones after a heavy tropical rain (did it occur to you that there are no firs in the tropics, Serge?), eucalyptus, some rancio for sure, horse saddle, menthol, cedar wood, humidor... There's a wonderful complexity here. Mouth: the oak may feel a little too much now, and it's some kind of old French oak, akin to what you may find in a very old Bourgogne that got a little dry. Having said that, everything that sits behind it is just perfect, from black raisins to cigars and from cocoa powder to crème de menthe. And let's not forget Seville oranges, and a rather walnutty sherry. Finish: long, a tad drying because of the oak. Cloves and cinnamon plus more bitter oranges. Comments: I still agree with the few lines and the score I had written back in 2004 - which feels a little strange, I have to say. Not quite MMcD's glorious 1967s, but still very, very excellent. SGP:461 - 89 points.

(Thanks a lot Carsten)

Check the index of all Springbank I've tasted so far