Then some bottles of Springbank’s popular 25-year-old single malt have finally landed. Unfortunately, as always, there are only quite a few. The whiskey is aged in 50% bourbon casks and 50% sherry casks. It is bottled at the usual 46% alcohol in 1,400 copies.
February 2024 Release
Colour: Golden.
Aroma: Caramel, shortbread and pineapple.
Tasting notes: Soft and buttery with notes of peat smoke, caramel and coffee.
Serving suggestion: Should be enjoyed neat.
At Springbank, 3 distinct types of whiskey are produced, which differ on a number of parameters. The classic Springbank has a light peat smoke. The smoke level is indicated (somewhat imprecisely) with a measurement of phenol in the finished malted barley and is approximately 10-15 “parts per million” (the malt is dried for 6 hours with peat smoke and 30 hours with hot air). Springbank is also distilled 2.5 times. “Longrow” – a strongly smoked variant was first made in 1973. Here the smoke is up to 50-55 ppm, the malt is dried for 48 hours with peat smoke, and it is distilled twice. The newest variant, Hazelburn, saw the light of day in 1997 when they first tried completely unsmoked and triple-distilled whiskey. Of the approximately 175,000 liters the small Campbeltown distillery produces per year, 80% is Springbank, approximately 10% Longrow and 10% Hazelburn.
Regardless of which variant you’re after, Springbank is worth getting to know. It is the favorite distillery of many whiskey geeks and for good reason! As the only distillery in Scotland, they malt all the barley they need themselves. Color is never added and the whiskey is not chill-filtered.
