Springbank 10 Year Local Barley (2019)

So I got a very small sample of this and plan to re-review tomorrow or the next day on the second half of this one. Nose - This is bright and really fresh. Almost taking me to one of those commercial for ocean spray where fruits and sea water slash you in the face. It's clean and without much fuss and no element is jumping out. Digging deeper however I start to get earthy note, barely, and oak. The fruit that was never strong subsides. Then the whisky starts to yield to sweetness of the malt. Nothing complex, nothing exciting. Just nice pleasant sweetness. Overall this is less cask forward than the 9 year and less fruity and sherry forward than the first 10 year. I'm however finding it less interesting than either. Adding water and sugary sweetness comes out but so does wet saw dust and salty sea air. Taste - unlike the nose the taste is much more bold and over powering. Sugary sweet, salty, and oak driven with a long oaky and smokey finish. Water increases the sugars, very classic cane sugar, then in comes new make springbank peated glory. Barely quickly takes over and dominates the finish and mouth. Unlike the 9 year which I think is new make forward with some citrus notes, the new 10 brings in some bourbon cask sweetness and while young the youthful exuberance is exciting and leads to a lot of detective work as I try and figure this bold flavor bomb out. This reminds me of a bookers bourbon, big, BOLD, rich, pushing loudly forward with the distillery character as well as the local barley character, but kinda lacking in the depth and complexity and ultimately drinking like a far less expensive whisky. As I love the complexity of springbank and the barely notes, I cannot drop this one too far down, but to read that this is 30% sherry and 3% port...I'm barely finding any distinct cask notes, or at least I didn't until I added a 3rd rather large drop of water. With that yes some of those notes do start to bubble up, but none the less I think this one is a step down from the last edition. 3 stars, good stuff, but only buy if you're a springbank geek.

Amazing