Springbank 25 Year Old 1991

I’m attempting to plow through my backlog of samples by trying a half ounce and moving on if something doesn’t hold my attention. I may end up blending those that don’t grab me immediately, so perhaps we’ll see how well old Old Pulteney intergrates with esoteric Bruichladdich casks. For Friday’s session, I pulled out a trio of Springbank single sherry casks distilled between 1991 and 1995 and worked through them from youngest to oldest. The first one was distilled in 1995 and bottled 21 years later by Copper Monument from a sherry hogshead. Bottled at 45.8%, it started well with aromas of stewed fruits, a flaming Christmas pudding and caramelized nuts. But the palate was a little one dimensional and watery, a dialed down version of the nose. A nice funky aftertaste offered some redemption. The next one was more interesting: a private cask (#321 if you want to look it up) distilled in 1993 and bottled 23 years later at 52.3%. It delivered a tasty mix of funk, peat and leather on the nose followed by a sweet and savory palate that faded to a tangy finish. Still, half an ounce of both was enough — I’d rate them 3.25-3.5 — and I was content to move on to the eldest of the trio. Cask 420 was distilled in 1991 and bottled 25 years later for the wonderful Bleeding Heart restaurant in London at 53.2%. If you’re going to bottle a whisky for a location that can claim a connection to Dickens, it better offer some sense of history, and indeed the nose is rich in old books and older leather armchairs. On the palate, it’s much punchier than the other two, thick and mouth coating. There’s a burst of peat, followed by cocoa, melting chocolate lava cake and brown sugar. It finishes on the brown sugar note, which slowly fades into a coda of spicy peat. From beginning to end, a near perfect combination, lacking only some of that beguiling Springbank funk. Sadly, I had only one ounce of this, and I couldn’t find any trace of bottles for sale online - there were only 100. But it would be churlish to complain too much. Single casks are very hit or miss and I wager you’d be disappointed if you’d spent a lot of money on one of the first two. The Bleeding Heart bottle, however, is one that legitimizes the obsessional hunt for the golden barrel. Long may the search continue.