Springbank 15 Year

I still remember climbing a few short steps to get a look inside of Springbank’s century old mash tun. A hundred years of patina creates a black void that stretches for miles. A similarly aged spirit safe contains enough copper oxidation to compete with New England’s oldest weathervanes. And dunnage style aging forms a mineral infused atmosphere that saturates the wood year after year. This combination of molecules cannot be simulated short of the time necessary to produce them. Factor in traditional malting floors and it all results in a whisky so distinctive it might easily be recognized in a blind tasting of a hundred drams. The first alcoholic whiff brings me back to the bottling room where a handful of industrious people still apply labels by hand and inspect each bottle individually. Subtle peat smoke recalls images of a noble kiln that’s weathered by decades of usage. Sweet vanilla and malted barley are accompanied by an earthy, oaken, sulfurous, farmland personality that’s unmistakable. An oily palate translates the sweetness into both fresh picked and dried fruits, toffee, salted nuts, prickly pepper, and cocoa bean. A wonderful, lengthy finish turns up dry Fino sherry, more pepper, and a final hint of cabbage water…..all spectacular. If it weren’t for my blatant Islay prejudice, I might safely rate this at 5 stars. :)

Whiskey vault episode 79--smokey, iodine, citrus, bandaid

Although it is aged entirely in sherry casks, there is a strong briny peat that overrides any of the overt sweetness that usually accompanies such aging. This aged Springbank is still the down to earth, good product of a small Campbeltown distillery. The peat is unique -- not as overriding and dominant as with Laphroaig, Ardbeg or even Talisker. It's a different peat, tasting of fields of worked grains, mixed with astringent diesel and metallic notes. It is not an easy drink. It is not for the Scotch drinker trying to avoid a challenge. There is layer upon layer here, and a drinker can just picture the peating, the turning of the barley, the heat of the roasting floor when sipping a dram of this taste of Scotland. For anyone who has ever been to Scotland: this is a taste that somehow captures -- unromantically -- what it feels like to stand in a burn inhaling the heather and salt sea air in a single breath. This single malt delivers a challenge; with that challenge comes a reward. Much like its younger brother -- the twelve-year-old -- it is a delicious, unpretentious, and unapologetic dram. If you want a true taste of Scotland -- not the overly refined and tamed tastes of Macallan, not the overly cleansed tastes of any of the chill-filtered Scotch malts or blends -- then tip your Glencairn towards Campbeltown and enjoy the immersion into Springbank.