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Monday, October 12, 2020

Springbank 27 year old 1993 Whiskybroker for IAAS

I've been hoping to get my overall mean (MEAN) score to drop, but then I do big blocks of Ben Nevis and Springbank which shoots that plan all to hell. So yes, this is a Springbank week, and probably a good one since I'm still celebrating Beatrice's completion of three zany human years.

First up is a single bourbon cask — am I the only one who misses plain ol' bourbon cask Springbank? — bottled by Whiskybroker for the Facebook group, It's All About Springbank. It's the third oldest Springbank I've reviewed here, and will probably still be the third oldest Springbank I will have reviewed here when the twenty-second century begins. Sorry to disappoint those of you who think I have a bottle of 32-year-old Springbank hiding in the cabinet. More to the point, I reviewed the first(?) IAAS bottling last year and didn't like it, but that one was wine-soaked. This one had a more straightforward maturation.

Distillery: Springbank
Brand: Springbank
Owner: Springbank Distillers Ltd.
Region: Campbeltown, on Well Close, just off of Longrow
Bottler: Whiskybroker.uk
Age: 27 years (23 April 1993 - 14 May 2020)
Maturation: refill bourbon hogshead
Alcohol by Volume: 51.3%abv
Chillfiltered? No
Colorant Added? No
(from a bottle split)

NEAT
BIG fruits on the nose. Mango juice, freshly squoozen orange juice, grapefruit and Ecto Cooler. There's also plenty of hot dirty hay, soot, fresh herbs, Good & Plenty and rose blossoms. But the fruits, man. At first the palate is all black walnuts, lemons and cigarettes. Then something like smoked apples and smoked grapefruits. Fresh herbs and arugula. Hints of acidity, salt and sweet limes. It finishes with layers of citrus and soot, black walnuts and soil, smoky residue and cherry juice.

Just a teeny bit of water:

DILUTED TO ~50%abv, or ⅛ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Broken rocks, broken bricks, herbs, black walnuts and dunnage on the nose. I'm loving all the black walnuts, which also show up on the palate, along with clay, chalk, oranges and limes. The finish matches the palate, though perhaps a little sweeter.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Richly sherried Springbanks are all the rage, but there ain't much on this whisky planet that tops a proper bourbon cask Springbank. This whisky is that and more so. (Hell, do 27-year-old bourbon cask Springers even exist anymore? Or will they in the future?) I'm not alone in fawning over this cask. Mr. Embrocations himself gave it a 92. Though its price may seem steep at first, it's actually half as much as the multi-cask (and less impressive) official 25 year olds. I'm very thankful to have gotten in on this bottle split.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - €320, or $400 to get it to The States
Rating - 91

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