Review by: zSolaris
Distillery: Springbank.
Bottler: Whiskykanzler.
Region: Campbeltown.
Age: 14. Distilled on October 8th, 1999 and bottled on May 22nd, 2013.
ABV: 57.1%.
Cask Type: “Fresh Rum” cask.
Price: Sample courtesy of /u/DangerousDoorknob
Color: 0.3, Pale Gold.
Nose: It has a quite strong cooling effect. Mint and shiso along with star anise are the aromatic notes that come through. A creamy passionfruit mousse gives a fruity element to this.
Palate: It’s pretty much undrinkable at full strength. It’s so hot and unpleasant. With water, it does become drinkable thankfully. That creamy passionfruit mousse note comes through again with a bit of banana. Some funk also comes through as well.
Finish: Medium to long in length. A bit of something dry and fruity like white wine. Funky and peaty.
Conclusion: Bottled for Whiskykanzler in Germany, this Springbank is from a “fresh rum” cask. The rum influence does comes through in some passionfruit in the nose and palate but otherwise this release feels a disjointed. The nose has an interesting cooling effect with a bunch of mint and shiso notes. There’s a bit of fruit in the palate along with some funk. That funk continues into the finish and does linger for a bit. Perhaps I needed to toy with the water levels some more given how strong it was or perhaps my palate was a touch off, but overall this felt disjointed and like this just never quite got started for some reason or another.
Final Score: 77.
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.
Malt Runners 
