ContemplativeFox
Springbank 18 Year
Single Malt — Campbeltown, Scotland
Reviewed
June 29, 2020 (edited April 13, 2022)
It smells fairly rich and quite fruity with the usual salt and mineral notes. This is surprisingly mild. There is a little spice but there is also a lot of mineral. Peat and smoke make a prominent appearance, but the fruit stands out too. There is some cherry, raisin, and orange. This is a big disappointment considering how good the younger expressions are. The richness is there but the fullness is a bit lacking. There is absolutely no gross bitter alcohol note to be found but there is also nothing rich and delightful here. The flavors are broadly solid but they aren't delightful. There is way too much salt and mineral, but the fruitiness keeps this in sippable territory. The flavor gets a bit off at times but it is still somewhat better than Green Spot. Honestly, it tastes like a Peated Irish whiskey. This is absolutely not worth the price.
175.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@ctbeck11 I'd agree whisky base is your best bet. They rarely steer me wrong. Generally springbank does report all their info on casks but as time passes it gets harder to find. Oddly the 18 seems to be the one people forget about too.
@ContemplativeFox Thanks. I haven’t cracked it yet, but I’ll get a review up once I do and let it oxidize for a month or so. The 2018 is interesting, since I believe it’s the only vintage that used only bourbon cask maturation. I was surprised at how much lighter it was than the 15, though it made sense once I learned that the 15 is 100% sherry case. @dhsilv2 The best information I found was on whiskeybase, but I’m not sure whether the reviewers on there are diligent about logging their reviews against the correct vintage record.
The 18 year is a tough one to get reviews by year on here. I've had a couple tastes but oddly all the bottles I seem to find have been 2014's, bought one maybe 3 months ago even. They're also at 2014 prices so I haven't jumped at 2020 pricing lol
(Also, looking at these notes, I'm surprised I thought it tasted like peated Irish whiskey. Could have been an out of tune palate or the bottle could have been sitting on the bar's shelf over the prior summer without air conditioning. Regardless, I don't generally like that particular flavor that Irish whiskey has, so others would probably have rated this at least .25 higher.)
I can't say for sure, but I think I tried it in late spring of 2019 so it was most likely a 2018, though maybe it was 2019 @ctbeck11
Any chance you remember which year this was bottled? The 18 is a batch product and the cask maturation changes each year, as far as I can tell. I recently picked up a 2018 bottling and am having difficult finding reviews specifically for that one, or other vintages for that matter.