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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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March 8, 2016 |
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Springbank’s new Local Barley
and compadres |
So, the new Local Barley. Huge success as soon as the news was out, and it’s probably more than time to taste it. But the main question remains ‘which sparring partners?’. An older Local Barley would make sense, but I’m not sure that would be too fair. Let’s rather try to find a classic Springbank, possibly more ‘moderate’, and of similar age. Such as this one, perhaps… |
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Springbank 1978 (46%, OB, +/-1992)  There were different 1978s, such as the ‘house and tree label’, but this is well the classic ‘black label’ (some poets rather coined it ‘yellow thistle label’). Colour: straw. Nose: it’s a rather austere one, pretty acrid, mineral, and grassy, without any sherriness – not to mention raisins or dried fruits. I’m finding quite a lot of shoe polish and old metal (second-hand spare parts, perhaps), which gives this Springbank a rather Longrowy feeling. Some fresh walnuts as well, as well as a little plasticine. Mouth: more sweetness, rather around grapefruits, with an acidic side and always a lot of plasticine, paraffin, stone, bone dry riesling, and then a saltiness and plenty of grass. Austere, getting ashy and even saltier. Finish: quite long, with some zests, salt, chalk, and more paraffin. A rather smoky aftertaste. Comments: they weren’t filling pricey great casks at that time, but the end result is that the spirit remained kind of naked and ‘natural’. Which I enjoy! SGP:362 - 89 points. |
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Springbank 16 yo 1999/2016 ‘Local Barley’ (54.3%, OB, 9000 bottles)  All the barley came from one single farm in Kintyre, and was floor-malted on location at Springbank. The casks were kept and disgorged/bottled on location as well. Some will say that this is genuine ‘single malt’, while so many are totally international ‘operations’ and carry almost nothing truly ‘local’. Colour: pale gold. Nose: same family, and that’s very obvious on the nose, even if this one has a bit of varnish, possibly from the higher strength. Similar metallic/mineral profile, with perhaps a little more grapefruit and lemon, but the soot and ashes are well there. The shoe polish as well. With water: takes water extremely well. In other words, more quality shoe polish ;-). Mouth (neat): this is really very good, and totally up my alley. Sharp, sooty, very zesty, slightly pungent, with a perfect minerality and a grassy side that reminds me a bit of that Spanish white wine that can be very good (and sometimes awful, to be honest), verdejo. With water: oh yes it swims well. Perfect lemon, soot, paraffin (the good side of paraffin), ashes… What it’s not quite got, and which was in the 1978, is salt. Finish: long, lemony, grassy, and sooty. In other words, perfect. A medicinal side in the aftertaste (iodine, antiseptic). Comments: I was hoping this wood be great, and I’m not disappointed. Old school and just perfect. SGP:462 - 91 points. |
Excuse me? Yes, I agree this wasn’t a proper session, with only two whiskies. Oh well, let’s have a last one, one that may be rather wackier… |
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Springbank 12 yo 2003/2015 (58.3%, OB, Port Pipe Matured, 696 bottles)  As you may have noticed, the combination of coastal whiskies with Port have always scared me, but since this is a full maturation, things might have worked better, let’s see… Colour: gold (not awfully pink!) Nose: strangeness and uncertainties. Bitter oranges and shoe polish, chocolate, cranberries, copper coins, floorcloth, cracked pepper, gunpowder… Strange… With water: leather, horse saddle, green pepper, dried porcinis, smoked cheese… Mouth (neat): works for a few seconds, but becomes bizarrely peppery. Some kind of Burmese spice mix plus stewed strawberries and raspberries. It’s not totally terrible, but I find it a little dissonant and disjointed. With water: rather better, thanks to many bitter oranges, but this peppery background is really bizarre. Some kind of lemon contentrate. Finish: long, leathery. English lemon marmalade, an acquired taste. Comments: it’s got its charms, but it’s all a little bizarre and unlikely. In a way, it’s a bit like the stunning Cathy Berberian singing the Beatles, remember? It’s on Youtube, if you really must… Bah, this slightly freaky SB was going to be killed by both the 1978 and the new Local Barley anyway, I think . SGP:452 - 78 points. |
It's not impossible that we shouldn’t have done that one… ;-) |
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