Springbank 12 Year Cask Strength

Briney with wet rocks. Tobacco and worn leather. Hints of berries. Nice pop based on abv. Aggressive and assertive whisky. One you can sip on for hours. Finish for days.

Awesome stuff. Peppery, perfect level of peat, and lots of citrus. Maybe tobacco too.

Batch 21 56.1, yes this is the new CRAZY one. I should create a new one but I have to use the ap and I hate the ap. Nose - so I'm getting a coffee cake with savory cream cheese on it. Then smoke and oak followed by rich intense gritty sweetness. Almost a reduction sauce meets a cooking wine with bread hearty savory full grain bread baking in the background. This is absolutely nothing like the first springbank 12 I had nor is it that similar to the 57.1 which I will say the likely first fill bourbon casks on that did a lot. Taste - The taste brings me back to springbank with the salty and savory notes coming out, but it's different. The wine is huge here but while the burgundy wood i found rich and earthy and meaty, this isn't that. It's sweet, very sweet. It's like the sherry casks were super sweet, the port enhanced it to ll and the burgondy just kinda added some new notes but let the sweetness keep going. These weren't even tired bourbon casks to add oak without vanilla, as there's vanilla here. The odd part is that it then hits with some spice and alcohol kick that wasn't expected or really wanted. The alcohol feels almost drying to the point the overall rich and creamy body comes off too drying and closes what should have been a really nice mouth feel. I keep going back to this and I keep coming to the same conclusion, this isn't a good springbank 12. It not bad either but if you're chasing that classic 12 profile this has gone a weird direction and one I hope they don't do again. I bought 2 and I'm ok with it. But yeah, A for effort but C- for execution. 2.50 which feels criminal for a springbank 12 but I have to be honest with you guys. The sweetness could work without the spice and alcohol notes. And trust me water isn't the solution either. Did one last sip and it come off a bit more traditional sherry with port and less spicy but then I was able to really notice the lack of finish or depth. A complex whisky that is just too disjointed and frankly just falls flat. I think springbank tried to add too many casks to what is still a relatively young whisky. This kind of blending is best saved for the older expressions where perhaps some secondary casks or active casks can wakeup a tired cask with age. Not for younger casks.

Nose: vanilla, lemon cream, some light smoke. Palate: sweet and sour pork. Some vanilla and lemon. dry and a little hot on the finish. Update: about 1/2 through the bottle and it’s become a smoked salted caramel apple pie bomb of a whisky. Adding a 1/4 pt from my original score.

So strong cherry on the nose, sweet and smoky

Thick and viscose,sweetness forward and a great smoky finish with a very pleasant lingering finish.

56.1% batch. A hard hitting cask strength. With water has a slight edge over 10 but go with neat if you want to go from zero to hundred in 5 mins. Enjoyable but loses some of that smoothness with the heavy notes. However if you got this due to the cask strength, got what you came for.

My bottle is Batch 18 @ 54.8 % Now open for 12 1/2 months now and has gone completely flat. I was thinking of throwing away but I'll keep and blend in a different fresher malt to try to save. As I stated before this bottle was never good so I believe there must be a quality issue at the distillery as so many rave about this bottle but unfortunately I would never buy another whole bottle. The 15 year old I just finished a 15 and it was delicious.