Springbank 25 Year Old Frank McHardy Bottling

Springbank 12 Year Old 2003 Duty Paid Sample

Here is another one of those ‘duty paid’ samples that you can only get at the distillery itself. This time it’s a Springbank 2003 brought home in 2016. It was part of the by now infamous Christmas Tasting with Michiel Wigman from last December. I was lucid enough to keep a sample for returning to it. Oh, lest I forget: this matured on a rum cask!...

Score 89/100

Springbank 18 Year Old

The Springbank is part of my ongoing fascination with Campbeltown whiskies. For no particular reason I am just fascinated by this region. It's like having a love affair with someone difficult. You are crushed when they fail you but their triumphs fill you with delight. While this 18 year old does not exactly set the night on fire it is a beautiful...

Score 90/100

Springbank 12 Year Old Cask Strength

Thanks to the continued generosity of @wierdo, I am able to sample and enjoy what has become somewhat of a unicorn malt of late - a Springbank 12 cask strength! This is batch 19 (2019), bottled at 57.1% and is composed of 65% Bourbon and 35% Sherry Casks. Shall we begin? Neat: Nose - quite bready and orangey with a little peat, putty and barley...

Score 89/100

Springbank 1997 12 Year Old Claret Wood

Frank McHardy’s statement ‘We don’t do finishes, we mature’, is not entirely true, is it? This Claret Wood was matured on a refill bourbon barrel, before it got a finish (ok, a three year long finish) on fresh Claret (Bordeaux) wine casks. The soften the wine influence, it was re-casked again for another two years in charred casks. Seems rather...

Score 89/100