Springbank Archives - The Distillates

Tasting Notes by Brand: Springbank

Scotch

Longrow Online Tasting Week 2021 17 Year 50.5%

Nose: Fresh pineapple and a bright honeycrisp apple. Honeybaked ham, asparagus, fennel, calvastrano olives, and lemon pine sol. Pineapple upside down cake on revisit.

Palate: Julie’s aunt Claire’s lemon bars if she added a single drop of liquid smoke into the curd. Grilled pineapple. Fennel powers the finish, paired with an animal cracker.

Rating: 8 / 10 – This is just down right yum. It is super well integrated and I love pineapple vibe on peated whisky. It doesn’t have the complexity of most of my 8s, but it’s just so fun to drink.

Hazelburn 21 2021 46%

Nose: A glorious Cadbury egg. Nothing more needs saying as this is in my opinion he penultimate expression of a chocolate treat. Sea salt dark chocolate and honeycomb / bit-o-honey. The zing of sweet tarts… or more elegantly orange blossom water. Fleeting hints of anise. Brown sugar and butter oatmeal, lemon poppyseed. A tomato plant in bloom.

Palate: Milk chocolate, hazelnut, dried cranberry, sea salt, touch of caramel. Old leather my dad kept is tools in. I’d often be assigned the task of sandblasting old metal to remove any corrosion before we worked on new projects. It was hands down the most fun with tools I ever had as a kid. The grit and metal never quite escaped the saftey box my dad built until you opened the door, at which point you could taste it on the air.

Rating: 6 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – Ryan and I have been trying to nail down the Hazelburn DNA for a while. There is a unique smell that ties all their spirits that we have been unable to name. But its a pseudo-industrial vibe. Need more hazelburn.

Hazelburn Online Tasting Week 2021 Fresh Oloroso 15 Year 54.9%

Nose: Tart cherries, Meyers lemon, those tiny cornichon, edamame, street dust, car wax, old wood cabinet.

Palate: Lemon grass and ginger chews which bring that lovely szechuan pepper heat. A potent green garden patch; zucchini, pine needles and green tomato.

Rating: 4 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – I like the garden patch vibe paired with the earth sherry notes. Ryan not so much.

Shane

Campbeltown Loch 21 Year Bottled 2013 46%

Nose: Peaches and nectarines. Mango. Garden roses. We had a nest of swallows right above the rosebush in front of the house Serenity was born in. I loved sitting with my book in the huge picture window watching the babies swoop, and poop, in the fading light. They made for the most robust roses, and brought a slightly grassy mineral smell to accompany the bright fragrance of the flower. Very mild white cheese with a touch of salt.

Palate: Stone fruit and cherries. I’m definitely not a fan of west coast IPAs. The bitterness and hops is enticing for a second but I rarely enjoy a second sip. For all the fruit on this palate, it’s got a dry edge paired with an odd artificial sweetness. Big league chew might have the most fucked up candy every as an adult looking back, but it was so much fun as a kid to pack that shit into your lip, chew and then shit it out without looking. Until you hit your mom’s good heels and she grounded me for a good part of the summer.

Rating: 4 / 10 – Nose is nice, and there are plenty of fun moments, but the palate just doesn’t do much for me. I was hoping the extra 6% would give it a nice kickstart, but not much of a difference.

Shane

Campbeltown Loch 30 Year Bottled 2009 40%

Nose: We took the kids up to Tejeda yesterday to enjoy the heatwave from the top of the volcano. They had just opened the public pool, with perhaps the best view on earth. Picked up almond pastries, an amazing coconut macaroon and a lovely mild hand muddled mint ice cream. Fresh chamomile flowers. My wife makes amazing cookies and I love the smell of the dried ingredients mixed up, flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, sea salt. Touch of vanilla.

Palate: A very gentle and old style spirit. Furniture polish and waxy. White pepper and anise seed. An apple that has lost its sparkly. Hippie generic organic cheerios. This is very thin. I’m taking unusually large mouthfuls to get the impact.

Rating: 5 / 10 – This is both very lovely and far too gentle. I quite enjoy getting to visit the style of waxiness from the 70s. A couple of extra proof would do it wonders and help the spirit shine. I truly waffled between a 5 and a 6. Content according to internet sources : “Around 45% of this Campbeltown Loch 30y is made up of the old 25y which was allowed to mature on. That 25y old blend was almost 100% malt and contained some 1964 Springbank, along with other single malts including 1977 Ardmore, 1977 North Port, 1978 Tomatin, 1977 Imperial, 1976 Glen Garioch, 1976 Ardbeg and 1976 Glen Grant. 30y old grain form Girvan was added to complete the new 30y old Campbeltown Loch.” Not sure how dependable the source is, but its pretty detailed for a guess.

Scotch

Springbank 8 Year Vintage 2001 55.3%

Nose: A balanced layer of smoke and limestone. Redskin Spanish peanuts, which is funny because I haven’t seen these once since moving to Spain 4 years ago. Caramelized goat cheese and microgreens. Pink grapefruit supremes. A classic Springbank oceanside parking lot; sea mist on hot tarmac. I’ve (Ryan) been on a journey to figure out what the core DNA is for Springbank on the nose, tonight it’s the sassafras in a really good root beer soda. We are kicking off a 50 sample long Springbank tasting for the next few months, so we’ll see if this holds up.

Palate: Super intense cedar and packing tape. I loved those boxes from which we’d drink nigori sake so much Julie bought me some for the holidays. They just take all the flavors up a notch. A rock hard piece of Bazooka Joe’s bubble gum from last halloween, complete with the cartoon. Fillings be damned. Sushi ginger. Stale tea biscuits. Green apple skins. Finish is crab apples, and long finish goes cardboard and cacao nibs.

Rating: ? / 10 – simple and what I’m beginning to be afraid might become eponymous, a hippopotamus of a Springbank. In all the best ways. I often wished the Springbank 10, my favorite of all core line bottles in Scotland, was available at a higher proof. This is what I was imagining.

Scotch

Shane

Longrow 17 Year 2002 / 2019 Single cask fresh Sherry 49.7%

Nose: Oddly dusty, leaning into tannins and berries. Rachel found it presented as a wine influence. Geraniums. Dandelion and burdock (tom). Stale almond roca from last xmas, old mint in the fridge that lost its edge.

Palate: A surprisingly thin palate. Wintergreen mint. crystalized ginger & vanilla. white pepper, szechuan pepper on duck.

Rating: 5 (Rohan & Rich & Shane) 6 (Tom) / 10 – The notes are decent but they don’t actually make a well written song. I enjoyed it but expected more.

Scotch

Shane

Springbank 20 Year 1997/2017 Sherry Hogshead Cask #108 48.9% for Whisky Broker

Nose: A Turkish picnic while sitting in the hills of Capadocia. I wandered the fairy chimneys and slept inside caves for a few nights in the summer of 2000. The mosquitoes were so brutal we had to fill the cave with smoke just to get some sleep. In the evening, a hot warm wind would blow in from across from the hills and we’d nibble on purchases from the market. Dates, figs, dried sulfured apricots and candied walnuts. Hard boiled eggs and a salted hard cheese. Pistachio baklava. Hiding behind the sherry are bandaids and Springbank funk.

Palate: This is the dark side of sherry and oak. Heavy roasted coffee. Bitter chocolate. Goji berries. Tom called it oily and nailed it. The taste of fireworks on the air after a huge show. The eau-de-sulfur lingers but is not as intense as I was worried it would be from the nose. Cracked black pepper. Chewing tobacco. Like walking through a damp forest after recent rain.

Rating: 7 (Shane & Rich & Rachel) 8 (Tom) 5 (Rohan) / 10 – This manages to sit on the acceptable side of sulfur pushing me down to a 7 and Tom upwards. Bet you his mom fed him hard boiled eggs every day at lunch. I love the dry oak mouthfeel, the punch and the touch of bitterness. A classy pour.