Review by: The Muskox

This is one of those weird times where I actually own the bottle that this dram is from, so I don’t have anyone to thank for the pour! Well, I guess I could thank all my friends who split this bottle with me. So, thanks to those guys.

I’ve actually had this bottle for quite a while, but haven’t reviewed it. I tried a friend’s bottle a few months ago, and found it quite salty, so I had sort of been putting this one off. Today, though, is a freezing snowstorm that just begs for a sweet, smoky, rich whisky.

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Distillery: Springbank.

Bottler: Official bottling.

Region: Campbeltown.

ABV: 54.6%. Cask strength.

Age: 17 years. Distilled in October 2001. Bottled in January 2019.

Cask type: Matured for 7 years in a bourbon cask, then finished for 10 years in a Chardonnay cask.

Price: $192 CAD.

Color: Amber. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Nothing shy about this. Fruity and savoury: plum sauce, dried fruit leather, clove-studded dried oranges, nectarine, and grape jelly. Spicy, too, evoking some kind of sweet barbeque sauce. Ahh, here’s the smoked meat to go with it. Earthy notes of dried leaves, wet dirt, and lapsang souchong. Plenty of vanilla and dark maple syrup. Celery salt, as well as regular salt. Blue cheese!

With a sip left in the glass, it’s all perfume, nori, and wood-fired pizza oven.

Palate: Thick texture. Tarter, smokier, and less syrupy-sweet than the nose. Quite salty up front, then orange, grapefruit, coconut, nectarine, lemon, basil, and burning grass. Lots of lapsang souchong here, as well as leather, dried leaves, and smoked meat. Some cooked, maybe slightly burnt, vegetables as well. It develops into dark chocolate, vanilla, tropical fruit, and honey. Dried meat, green table grapes, and citrus peels, along with charred wood. Comes down into seaweed and sea salt, as well as a hint of juniper.

Finish: More sweet than smoky. Red grapes, cherries, black tea, vanilla, maple syrup, sharp cheddar cheese, pickled carrots, cumin, and balsamic vinegar. More of that blue cheese. Lingering honey and smoked meat. Just a hint of mint on the back.

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Conclusion: Rich and delicious. It reminds me of a few drams I’ve tried recently, such that it’s almost a combination of that earthy/grape-jellified Oloroso-cask BenRiach, the lightly-smoky honey-bomb Benromach Peat Smoke Sherry, and the tropical/charred Longrow 11 Recharred Sherry. I like this one better than any of those three, I think. It’s got a more robust finish, and that very nice tropical/lapsang mix of notes on the palate. And, while it was definitely quite salty, it wasn’t overbearing. All in all, an outstanding single-cask release.

Final Score: 90.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.