Springbank 10 yo – Local Barley 2019 56,2% ABV!

Dear friends and followers alike! On friday last week I received a package from the nice people at Symposion containing a sample of the latest edition of Springbank Local Barley! As the name reveals this particular expression of Springbank has been produced using only barley that has been grown locally around Campbeltown. For this edition the barley (of Optic variety) comes from the High Cattadale Farm. 

The peating level is 12-15 ppm. Time of distillation is July 2009 and time of bottling is October 2019.  The whisky has been matured in a combination of bourbon casks (77%), sherry casks (20%), and port casks (3%). The whisky has been bottled at a (vatting) strength of 56,2% ABV. The number of bottles produced is 9000 out of which 522 has made their way to Sweden. Here it will be launched at the state monopoly tomorrow (the 14th of February) and you can view the product by clicking here.

Ok folks, let's review!

Nose:

Absolutely wonderful! This dram definitely has something that reminds me of a Laphroaig at cask strength. The centre of the nose is rather salt-y and leather-y. There is also something farmyard-y in the centre (let’s call it "hay"). The centre is surrounded by medium creamy vanilla and smoked almondpaste. There are also clear whiffs of mint and eucalyptus, meaning there is a medicinal thing going on here. It’s not really right to compare this with a Laphroaig though, cause this one is way softer (softspoken), reserved and subdued on the peat as well as overall. In the deep layers I detect a fruity sweetness; kind of a mix between lemon peel and figs dipped in mellow red wine. The strength/ABV goes unnoticed, so very soft indeed.

Taste:

Salty, salty, salty, mixed with peat! The leather from the nose is very much a part of the taste. Suddenly, passion fruit and mango flies by (!), it stays for less than half a second and then it’s gone (very fleeting indeed). When the saltyness and the peat mellows down we have a beautiful kick from the strength/ABV, this in turn evolves into dryness which evolves into a creamyness consisting of vanilla and melted butter (very slightly burnt), and all of the sudden a whiff of fruit flies by again (this time in the form of yellow kiwi). That’s strange! The aftertaste has quite a lot of dryness in it, reminding me of the taste/feeling of the peel from green grapes. The strength/ABV is present on the palate (the roof of the mouth) all the way through the aftertaste, manifesting itself as bubbles (carbonation) and black pepper-yness. The last thing in the aftertaste to leave my mouth and end the taste all together is ashes and a fleeting presence of elderflower syrup. 

Some reflections to sum up:

Even though it may seem otherwise from my notes on the nose vs. the taste, the nose is actually more complex than the taste; the nose is more deep than the taste is, and the different phases of the taste passes by quicker than what the nose indicates it should do, if you know what I mean. As far as my competence goes the taste does not really show any signs of the sherry casks and port casks used, but rather ”only” bourbon casks. On the nose there are however tendencies towards sherry cask maturation (ie. the figs dipped in mellow red wine) and that is absolutely a gret contribution in terms of bringing complexity to the composition. So, should you buy this whisky? Well, the nose itself is almost worth the cost, and the taste is (although not as complex as the nose) also very good. Definitely so for those of you out there who just love your drams salty and peaty.

Finally, a big thanks to Peter at Symposion for the great opportunity to review this whisky before its release! For kind of weekly updates please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here, and my twitter-page by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures and videos likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro [at] gmail [dot] com and when permission granted by stating the source.

Pic borrowed from systembolaget.se

Springbank 11 yo – Local Barley 53,1% ABV

Dear friends and followers alike, a couple of weeks ago I received a package of different samples from the nice people of Symposion! The sample that I will share my notes on with you all is Springbank "Local Barley". But first some info on Springbank Distillery. From the handout/info I received I read:

"There are a few Scottish distilleries that still malt their own barley but Springbank is the only distillery which malts 100% of its own barley, using the traditional floor maltings. The whole production process: malting, milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation, maturation and bottling, happens on the one site in Campbeltown. This is unique in Scotland"

Given these facts, maybe it is in order to label Springbank as one of the few remaining "craft"-distilleries? Now, regarding this particular expression of Springbank, besides the obvious fact that "Local Barley" has been produced using only barley that has been grown locally around Campbeltown, the handout/info states that 9000 bottles have been produced for this batch, that the (vatting) strength is 53,1% ABV and the casks used are 100% bourbon. However it does not 

state what kind of bourbon casks (in terms of size and filling). That would be nice to know. 

Anyways, here in Sweden the Springbank "Local Barley" will be available at the state monopoly the day after tomorrow (the 20th of april) and you can view it by clicking here. Ok, lets do some nosing and tasting and see what we have!

Nose:

Big, fat and rich of vanilla-stuff, in fact the nose is very creamy indeed, smells yummie! The peat is definitely evident but in a kind of subdued way, presetin itself kind of like creamy ashes, there is also something ”green” about the peat, in one part sort of sea-ish (wet seaweed/tang) and in the other part something woods-y. The woods-y stuff is the most dominant. In the middle of these two layers (the vanilla/cream and the peat) is some kind of fruit, overripe pear comes to mind along whith some fruity candy, maybe orange colored bassets or swedish peach candy, in fact it’s almost as if this candy (whichever candy it is) has been dipped in white chocolate… nice!

Taste:

That’s a really cool start! It starts off with medium-salt-y peat, the peat is very chewable and more-ish. Instantly when I have swallowed, along comes that peach candy but it transforms very fast into candied lemon. In the early aftertaste a quick buzz of medium strong alcohol, then the peat comes through in the form of creamy ashes. I the late aftertaste everything goes over into some kind of medium burnt vanilla and burnt creamyness.

To sum up: 

The thing that strikes me with this dram (apart from the fact that it is a very drinkable one) is that the nose is so much more complex than the taste; most of the things going on in this dram happens on the nose and for some reason I had expected it to be the other way around. What I mean by this is firstly that Springbank is usually a quite big and robust whisky indeed (although its 10-15ppm), and secondly given the fact that this particular expression holds 53,1% ABV, could both be expected to result in a quite explosive dram. On the other hand, this does not mean that it is a boring whisky, it could mean that the blender at Springbank has deliberatly choosen very creamy casks resulting in a very calm taste. Nontheless, a very drinkable dram and a very interesting experience indeed. 

Big thanks to the nice people at Symposion for sharing a sample of this whisky and for the opportunity to review and try it before the release! Sláinte! Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my twitter-page by clicking here, and my instagram by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro[at]gmail.com

Picture/copyright belongs to Symposion