Friday, September 2, 2016

Springbank 1998 (PSI Cask)

I'm not exactly sure if this is a ten or eleven year old Springbank, but it's a 1998 vintage released in 2009 for the Australian market and matured in a selection of small casks (sherry mainly I'd think) before presumably being dumped into cask 08/2631- the cask number detailed on the bottle.

An experimental precursor then, perhaps, to the excellent Rundlets & Kilderkins release that arrived world-wide a few years later.

Springbank 1998 (For Premium Scotch Importers Pty Ltd, Australia) 53.3% (2009 Release)

Look at the colour!


Nose:  Sweet sherry, spices, cola. Dark chocolate. Some freshness too. Engine oil lurking beneath the sweeter stuff. Time and water see something a little meaty emerge.


Palate: Pretty huge. Sherry, leather, chilli, cloves and mild peat. Dark fruits and spices. The addition of water levels out the spices, balancing out the palate. More fruit. Some dark – raisins, plums - but now some lighter, fresher, stuff too. Overripe yellow fruit. Peaches and treacle.


Finish: Long. Warming and sweet. Spices build again in the next wave. Cola, dark plums, dried fruit. Finishes salty, spicy and sweet, a hint of gunpowder - just right. Huge finish.



Look, this is going to sound like a pretty hot take but I think this is the best sherried Springbank I’ve yet had. Clean as a whistle, it doesn’t suffer from an overdose of sulphur like some sherried Springers can (particularly single casks). The smaller casks have matured this release wonderfully.

It's still available here and there but will set you back a few hundred (AU) bucks. Probably worth it though.

An awesome whisky.