Springbank 10 Year

Salty smoke, then vanilla and green apple.

Beautiful, sweet nose. Initial taste unexpected after the aroma. Peatiness evident but not overpowering.

I had heard both praise and horror stories about it; but, had never had it and seldom seen it. A spirits company sales rep once told me my area was a really tough market for Scotch. So, even the giant stores seem to carry mainly the best known brands. After a search I found a single dusty bottle in a smaller shop. I looked up the UPC barcode and found it had been bottled in early 2016. I was impatient to try my new dram and opened the bottle once home, poured a dram and immediately sipped. I was flooded with flavor notes. A positive view would be it is complex, a less charitable opinion would be that it is too busy and not sure all facets really work together. HOWEVER, if you don't rush the dram, allow it to rest and breath a few minutes in the nosing glass; there can only be one opinion---this is a wonderful, complex, and unique beautiful dram of Scotch. The pour is a light, bright gold. The nose offers much: malt, ripe fruit, wet moss, peat, seashore breeze. In the mouth it is soft and offers sweetness, malt, fruit, bashful peat smoke, pepper, and salinity. This all really works together, especially if you are patient with your dram. The finish is medium--the hint of smoke, light sweetness, and salinity linger. Trying it with a few drops of water it seems sweeter, less pepper--but less complex. Ripe fruit, smoke, and salinity now make very little impact.

Tasted with David on 6/30/2020 Campbletown. NCF, Natural Color A champ on the level of Arran 10, probably better. Rich in spice. A bit of smoke. Fruity. An autumn whisky.