Reviews

Some new indie bottlers in the US who have given extra-care to their packagings (although I'm not entirely sure about that big 5 - I know, just numbers anyway). Their first list looks great too, especially this wee Springbank. Colour: gold. Nose: steel, tools, walnuts and engine oil, that’s well Springbank. Then we have some menthol, a little camphor, limestone, paraffin and bitter oranges, plus some beach sand and perhaps a little chalk and fresh parsley. No complains so far (why would I), on the contrary. If this was first fill sherry indeed, it was some very well behaved sherry. With water: the nicest porridge there is (with a nip of Springbank inside). Mouth (neat): tarter, zestier, more citrusy than the OB, sharper, more a blade as we sometimes say. Does not feel like 1st fill at all but frankly, that’s all for the better in my book. Lovely lemons, oils, waxes, minerals, soot, a drop of seawater, some ointments, a little wakame perhaps (that’s at the ‘coastal’ department), marmalade, some very flinty and pretty fermentary white wines by some good folks in Jura (Ganevat and compadres)… All great and pure. Again, no wham-bam sherry in the way. With water: exactly. Almonds, lemons, seawater, wax and chalk. Finish: rather long, waxier and chalkier yet, with lemons and grapefruits in the aftertaste. That always works. Comments: exactly what we were expecting. Faultless Springbank, right up my alley.
Some new indie bottlers in the US who have given extra-care to their packagings (although I'm not entirely sure about that big 5 - I know, just numbers anyway). Their first list looks great too, especially this wee Springbank. Colour: gold. Nose: steel, tools, walnuts and engine oil, that’s well Springbank. Then we have some menthol, a little camphor, limestone, paraffin and bitter oranges, plus some beach sand and perhaps a little chalk and fresh parsley. No complains so far (why would I), on the contrary. If this was first fill sherry indeed, it was some very well behaved sherry. With water: the nicest porridge there is (with a nip of Springbank inside). Mouth (neat): tarter, zestier, more citrusy than the OB, sharper, more a blade as we sometimes say. Does not feel like 1st fill at all but frankly, that’s all for the better in my book. Lovely lemons, oils, waxes, minerals, soot, a drop of seawater, some ointments, a little wakame perhaps (that’s at the ‘coastal’ department), marmalade, some very flinty and pretty fermentary white wines by some good folks in Jura (Ganevat and compadres)… All great and pure. Again, no wham-bam sherry in the way. With water: exactly. Almonds, lemons, seawater, wax and chalk. Finish: rather long, waxier and chalkier yet, with lemons and grapefruits in the aftertaste. That always works. Comments: exactly what we were expecting. Faultless Springbank, right up my alley.

REGION: Campbeltown

Though Campbeltown is a small, and relatively remote, settlement at the end of the long Kintyre peninsula, it was once home to over 30 distilleries – a whisky-producing powerhouse. Though a fall in demand during the 1850s - prompted by a number of factors, including improved transport links which allowed the northern distilleries to gain the upper hand – the produce of Campbeltown was still highly prized into the 20th century. Today, only three whisky distilleries remain, but they more than make up for this by producing a range of distinct malts, some adopting the smoky, oily character for which the region is beloved.

Distillery: Springbank

The Glenlivet has been built on foresight, beginning with that of founder George Smith, who was one of the first distillers to apply for a license under the reforms of 1823. The best-selling single malt in the United States, Glenlivet is a whisky so renowned that nearby distilleries have tried to profit from the association. In 1881, George Grant Smith sued to prevent rivals from using the Glenlivet name; a compromise was met in that distilleries were allowed to use the Glenlivet name as long as they appended it to their own. Sir Walter Scott wrote that the spirit was “worth all the wines of France for flavour, and more cordial to the system besides.”