| Category | |
|---|---|
| Type | Spirit |
| Alcohol | 51.1% |
Located in the centre of Campbeltown, this small distillery was founded in 1828 and today it produces three distinct types of single malts. Each of the three (Longrow, Hazelburn and Springbank) have their own character - Longrow is the traditionalist's peaty style, Hazelburn has no peat whatsoever and Springbank has just a little. These are whiskies for the connoisseur.
Appearance: Mid gold with faint amber lights; American oak refill cask. Outstanding beading, indicating texture.
Aroma: A mellow nose-feel; slightly nose-drying. The top notes are at once savoury and lightly fruity, the latter hinting at mincemeat (as in Christmas mince pies), the former at kitchen spices (allspice, nutmeg) and soft leather. The base notes are maritime and mineralic – saline, cordage, planed oak. Peat smoke permeates the aroma throughout. Even a drop of water closes down the aroma somewhat.
Taste: The texture is mouth-filling and oily; the taste sweet to start, very salty in mid-palette and gently tannic towards the end, with a shake of Cayenne pepper and a whiff of smoke as you swallow. A long warming finish. Water sweetens the taste and increases the saltiness. It also adds a slight mouth-cooling effect to the savoury aftertaste.
Comment: A classic Springbank - ‘grubby’ and maritime, with a thread of peat-smoke (of course they malt on site, using local peat). A fine ‘traditional’ character, rarely encountered today (again, Springbank is a very traditional distillery, with a direct-fired wash still and a worm tub on one of its spirit stills).
9 out of 10
Nose: Rich at first, with thick fudge and honey, and a little maltiness. This is joined swiftly with lifted sandalwood and gorse flowers. Overall, the aroma is fresh and sweet with a touch of sea breeze in the background, all balanced with waxy honeycomb. With time, the fudge becomes more complex, with both soft vanilla fudge and crystalline Scottish tablet in the mix. The honey aromas are more complex with time, as well ranging from floral honeysuckle and acacia honey to honeycomb. There is a lot of sweetness, but there is also underlying fruit comprising subtle blackberry and baked plums topped with crumble. When left for a while to air, citrus zests come through with lemon being dominant among them.
Palate: Old wood flavours come through on the palate first with the honey flavours. The fruits and fudge are secondary, but balance the lifted wood flavours nicely. Antique furniture and furniture polish give away that this is a whisky with a good deal of age, and bring great complexity. Aniseed comes though on the back palate with touches of cinnamon and black cardamon. Complex and satisfying with a full mouth feel.
Finish: Touches of beeswax and antique furniture polish are prominent with oak shavings and spice. There are waves of sweetness which fade away leaving a persistent, long dry and oaky finish.
With water: On the nose there is a little more of a floral note, but the wood is a little dominating. This follows through on the palate which is more oaky and less sweet than when neat. The finish is dry and spicy, and a little heat comes through on the end. I wouldn’t advise adding water to this dram.
