Tastes

I don't often buy a backup bottle of anything, especially something at these prices points, but this one was a no brainer. Nose - Berries, figs, raisins, I get an almost deep mix of grape medicine and just grape juice, there's a salty brine, light alcohol notes. I really get this dessert wine meets a savory element thing going on. Really outstanding nose. Taste - this is springbank's malt but it is being hit with this huge really fresh fruit sherry note. No vanillas like I tend to get, it isn't overly funky or musty though there might be a bit of sulfur (I'm not sensitive so it's harder for me to pick that out.) The finish however is lightly peated, savory, has a really nice quality oak note, and just has this old whisky lingering feeling that I normally won't get on a whisky this young. This has me thinking about the Glengoyne 25 year I recently reviewed and i think it is about as perfect an expression of a classic sherry bomb as their is. The problem with that whisky is that it's really just a showcase of those fine european oak barrels, the natural malt is really been over powered and sent home and while you get some nice oak spices, the oak even feels like it was likely a second class citizen. I love all that, but it left me with a 4.0 score because it wasn't that complex. Here the springbank malt just can't be over powered easily. You still get that light peat and salt, you maybe no longer get the "funk" as it were, but you get springbank character on the finish, the oak barrels even seem to be contributing beyond their sherry and really giving a nice oak flavor at the end. This is an all time great dram. Small issues. 1. It's a bit too dry. Not a shocker with this age, abv, and first fill sherry casks. 2. I could see many wanting more dessert or more of an earthy bitter note, perhaps a refill sherry butt would help some, I'm not sure what they would need to make springbank's malt into a dessert. 3. There's a lot of stuff floating in the bottle and by the end of it, it kinda gets off putting (this is my second bottle). I'm not all about filtering and even like some raw casks but the sediment here isn't a winner for me. 4.5 - if you see a springbank fresh sherry, even if not cask strength, you will not be disappointed (and another fresh sherry bottle is going to be reviewed).

Nose - I get light grape, salt, vanilla, oak, and some kind of earthy putty. Taste - Sweet yet light, fruity but subtly so, salty and peated but refined and not austere but reserved. Even some lightly sour noted notes. This is complex, refined, and yet still bold enough to not shy away thanks to the 55% abv. The classic longrow profile is here, hearty dirty salty barely, but the 15 years has add a bit of refinement against a brand that mostly does 12 years or less (the 18 aside but remember that's 46%). The 9 year finishing in chardonnay casks adds an added final layer of not just complexity but truly refined notes. I'm not a big wine drinker and I frankly don't know anything about Chardonnay beyond I believe it is a white wine. It really is playing nicely with the longrow character and I think the 6 years in bourbon casks added a nice vanilla note here and that base is really what is letting the fruity nature of the chardonnay come through but perhaps keeping it from being overly sour or drying. I'm absolutely in search of future casks of any springbank product aged in white wine, I think it has been a huge success. I got this one in trade for a local barely 10 year but I've known a lot of people to get their hands on this one, with 330 bottles it's actually a huge single cask release from springbank. I feel crazy going here but I'm going 4 stars. I think this might be my favorite longrow. I'm not going to be held to that, nor do I require this to be my highest score for a longrow (I didn't check), but this I think edges out the rest for my top spot.

Just a quick baby rant - but it's rather tiring to have to add these with my phone only to of course write the reviews on a computer. I guess I'm turning into an old man, but good lord...phones are just not designed for writing more than a few sentences on. Why the internet has gone to completely catering to them is beyond me. Also, I'll be slowly going through more of my single casks and independent bottles for a while. On the one hand these aren't exactly easy to get bottles (though I know this one is available in multiple states in the US currently), but it has been my experience that if you like a distillery and you have an idea on the age and casks, you can make pretty good educated guesses based on experience on other's reviews so I don't think these are without merit. That in mind I will at least attempt to (when I can) discuss the distillery character and then cask character which I believe will be more consistent. Nose - i get what I'll call a red malt. Sweet, slightly fruity, more of the malt profile in perhaps an amber beer, then I get some salt, wax (almost a candle wax), and finally some lightly toasted oak barrels. Taste - Longrow's malt is always this very hearty funky, salty, unrefined, aggressive barely note. This is well on display with this younger cask. This is a super salty longrow, I believe this has to be coming from these first fill sauternes hogsheads. The overall impact is a very savory scotch profile that I can't say I've had before. I have had the springbank sauternes and I'm not sure if that was first fill, but I recall that one being a lot more on the sweet side and while springbank malt is a bit sweeter with less peat, I think these casks are playing the biggest role here. There is still a mid pallet sweetness of a wine in here, bringing some berries and vanilla up so don't think this is a pure savory bomb. *water - brings a bit more sweetness out but kinda kills the finish and gives off a bit more of the oak. Not a bad thing with a drop but I'll likely skip it going forward. This has to be one of the more unique longrow/springbanks and that is saying something from a brand that has a very unique character to start with. You still clearly get the classic longrow elements but the casks they used here is really interesting. 3.25. This is getting into the ranks of truly special stuff. I tend to find longrows in general are in that 2.5 to 3.75 range, the good to just short of greatness and this one is well within that context. Price - these are going for about 120-130 i believe, I however found this one for 80 bucks and yes, I bought backups.

Going back to the classics. Nose - vanilla, lemon/lime, light oak, salt, sea weed, and just that classic ardbeg peaty malty thing. I need better words lol. Taste - spicy oak, big peaty meaty notes, a bit of powdered sugar, citrus notes on the finish. This is a lot more spicy than I'd remembered and I guess that's the youth in the 10 years of aging. Love this whisky and I can still find it for less than 50 bucks. 2.75 and if we're talking price, this might be a 5 star whisky.

Stumbled upon a store with these still on the shelves and had a friend who wanted every bottle...so i grabbed 2 for myself and made the store owners a bit happy with the 7 total I left with. Nose - I get their classic vanilla and honey notes no the nose, there's light oak, bread, and I'm getting light notes of red fruits. These are all bourbon barrels but their malt is so sweet and fruity at times. I love it. Taste - Honey, complex vanilla pastries, oak. and the finish leaves me with some dark honey and oak tannins. A very nice complex take on what is an otherwise simple experience with bourbon barrels and classic Balvenie malt. 16 years old and bottled in 2012. These aren't yet endangered but they are getting pretty hard to find. I think I like the new sherry barrels better, but this is an awesome change of pace and really showcases the malt and it comes in at a much lower price than the 25 years and it's way better than the new 12 year. Edit, I'm upping the score to a 3.25, this is so good.

What can I say, I've become a bit hooked/obsessed with Kavalan and I finally broke down and made the less than smart financial decisions to pick this up for 417 bucks (ouch). Nose - At first I'm mostly getting vanilla over a fruity all be it on descriptive malt and a good bit of alcohol. I added water and to be honest it's not really opening up much. Time seems to be the magic on the nose. It's now fruity, very clearly a distinct sherry note with some vanilla. Taste - I'm not an expert on tehse manzanilla casks, I've really only had a few bottles with some maturation, that I'm aware of, with them. They are sweeter than Oloroso but they aren't the same kind of sweetness of a PX. The taste is sweet with some spice. I'm not getting a distinct sherry like note, just a general sweeter whisky with a lot of fruity elements but I'm not able to really drill in. Added water and I'm still struggling with this one. There's berries up front, then it moves into some spices. There's something here muting the whisky, it's like the sherry wants to explode into this sweet candy note and then there's a bready oaky element coming in and bringing the sweetness down, bringing in some spice, and then leaving it with a long, but bitter finish. I think the problem with this one is that I came in really hoping for a dessert dram and that isn't this at all. The sweetness is a bit muted, the barrels are giving off some oak, the natural malts are much more hearty than perhaps I realized, and while the cask finishing really does shine (this is a sherry bomb for sure) the other elements here are far more in play than I'd expected and really than I'd noticed on some other pours from this series. I'm going 4 stars here but I'm debating 3.75. This is great whisky but it's not truly special. Still the cask strength, single barrel, sherry bomb qualities are working very well for me here. Will re-review - but this is going higher up, it's opened up a lot in the bottle. Likely a 4.5 but maybe 4.25.

Nose - oh it's a dank warehouse, dark fruits...over ripe. This is old and yet the sherry dominates this, there's none of that oak bitterness coming through. Rich and fruity. Taste - rich, chocolate, butter, sherry, spicy oak. The finish is long, lingering, rich, complex. It isn't the most nuanced and detailed whisky to discuss. It's a sherry bomb and you can really tell this is using those european oak casks which gives it all kinds of spice flavors.

Been trying to buy less but I just had to get at least one of these and I went with the blend. Nose - fruity, waxy, vanilla. There's a bit of oak and a touch of salt and earthy notes at the end. Taste - vanilla, cream, followed by some earthy elements, some peat, bitter notes. This is a nice reasonably older tasting blend providing the fruity elements that compass box so often seeks out with a light touch of peat. It was about 150 bucks which is a bit too much as seems to be the norm lately with compass box. I'd love to have the 3 bottles for display but I'm pretty happy saying I had this one and calling it a day here. 2.5 quality scotch, but nothing special.

I should comment on the expert scores but lets just move on. Nose - at first I get some dill, perhaps from the 36% rye mash bill, but thankfully that's fading out. I'm getting cinnamon, heavy vanilla...more like icing on a cake, some fruity notes, hint of tobacco, and some fruity notes. Taste - I need to find a way to explain classic MGP. While I do think there's a touch of dill sour notes. I'm getting all kinds of older whisky notes, the tobacco, hint of leather, a lot of spice, but also younger notes with a bit more heat that you'd expect on a 50% bottle, a bit of youth in the oak, and some funky notes. I didn't love this when I first opened it, but I've gone full circle, this is darn good for the age and I'm pretty happy to have it. I'll let you decide on 85 bucks...that's a bit high for 10 and 11 year old bourbon imo, but we live in strange times with bourbon. 3.5 stars, and extremely high mark for me on a bourbon at this age, but they've really got something here. This is a much more complex bourbon than ECBP or EHT barrel proof, two highly spoken of bourbons. They do have their advantages beyond just barrel proof, but I think MGP really has something with these blends of bourbons and their disclosure.

I'm not sure if this one goes to 11, but at 47.2 I think we're going to hear this band pretty loud and clear. This might be the only HP I've ever had that wasn't sherry finished to some degree, i'd have check on a few of those NAS's but I feel like they all had at least a bit. I also noticed some disappointing reviews lately and this gave me an excuse to go back to this one, the bottle is getting scary low but heck if you can tell easily with the stupid black bottle. Nose - fruity esters over vanilla and some more savory earthy/peaty elements. Taste - classic bourbon cask finishing up front, sweet vanilla malts. Then we transition into a more classic HP profile, with oak and smoke, and savory meaty malt notes. It never over powers with peat, but it brings out all kinds of nice oak, some sour, some sea salt. I'm sorry but this is for about 100 bucks and I've seen it on sale for into the 60's or 70's, this is awesome whisky for that price. I'm sure these 300 dollar, special wood casks, etc are great, but for my money they have a lot of work to pass this guy. 3 stars - keep in mind my average is a 2.0. A 3.0 is a very healthy and very strong score that I save for whisky that really should be sought out for those who appreciate it. if you like bourbon barrel finishing and like HP's malt, this is a must get, but yeah we're not into the A's or anything crazy either.