Springbank Private Bottling for Distillery Visitors 2017

So I just drank a £50 dram.

Which is more a reflection of the weird state of Scotch in 2017 than of the true value of this whisky.

But that's not the reason for this post, ho no missus. Nope. I'm writing this because Springbank seems to provoke logorrhea in a way that other drams don't. Look at this:

Can you tell that I really liked this whisky?

Here's the transcription, for those of you using Lynx or another text-only browser.

Nose: malt and iron. age-patina-ed old iron and brown sugar. If you took a handful of long grass (forage, destined to be hay) and held it tight to an old horseshoe until it had become damp. That. Grubby small children, but your own, beloved children, not anyone else's. Faintly, a curry spice (cumin?)

Palate: Sweet and malty, but somehow suggesting sweeties made from seaweed. A salty-sweet finish. Sweet round malt, beautiful brown sugar (muscovado, the darkest of sugars). Oh, and sherry.

Conclusion: the perfect dram for my mood tonight. A great Springbank.

I absolutely love it when this happens. To be honest, this is why I drink. I don't care for the other effects of alcohol, the drunken-ness or the hangover, but when the booze provokes me into wordiness, oh man, I'm so happy. I don't mind that these words likely don't mean much to most of you. The process of turning ethanol-plus-congeners into letters on a screen makes me unreasonably happy.

PS If you haven't already arrived at this conclusion, then let me say that the take-away from this blog post is that you need to get yourself to Campbeltown and do the tour, just so you can have the whisky.

This Tasting Note Is Not Standards Compliant

I spilled some Longrow just now, and the aroma is very intriguing: almond pasty, the 1970s, shiny silver balls, eaux de vie, almonds, rolling tobacco, something sweet

Tasting Note: Springbank 15 Year Old Rum Cask

I tasted this at the end of a brilliant evening of whiskies and sherries, so my notes may be slightly more euphoric than is strictly justified.

Whiskybroker Springbank 15yo Rum barrel #300 52.8%

The nose is light and smoky. Perhaps brown sugar? It's sweet, but sweet without being syrupy - it is noticeably light in body. Fresh and maybe a wee bit salty.

With some water it becomes distinctly metallic; iron (which I often find in whiskies from Campbeltown) and aluminium. I should explain that when I find iron in a whisky that's a good thing, whereas aluminium is nearly always a bad thing.

The palate is very light and sweet. There's that lovely Campbeltown smoke in the finish. Just delicious.

Adding water doesn't change the palate so much. It remains soft, rounded, and smoky. Perhaps a little peppery note creeps in.

Conclusion: This is just ace. I'm a Springer fan, but even if you're not I think you'd find this to be a superb whisky. I'm not sure how much sweetness the rum barrel added, but it was certainly a good cask.

Tasting Note: Longrow CV

nose: very smoky, peaty, and mealy (like porridge, I suppose). Sweet like treacle toffee. There are tangy or sharp undertones. Over time, a popcorn note emerges.
palate: there is an oily, thick texture, with loads of smoked salt. But there's also a strong fruitiness - melon and banana, plus fudge. It's a full bodied dram for sure.

Conclusion

I like this very much indeed, and it looks like very good value for money too, at about £30. Excellent.

About Longrow

Springbank distillery, one of three in Campbeltown, makes three different malt whiskies, Hazelburn, Springbank, and Longrow. It gives them different names, perhaps to help consumers, perhaps as an aide memoire for the distillers, perhaps to keep alive the memory of long-lost Campeltown distilleries. Longrow is distinguished by its heavy peating level and the fact that it is straightforwardly double distilled. "CV" is generally explained as either "Chairman's Vatting" or "Curriculum Vitae", depending on who you ask.