Springbank 12 Year Old 50%, Sam's Private Bottling

And such is life... when speaking to the "consultant" at Sam's Wine in
Chicago about their private bottling of Springbank 12 year old 50% abv,
I was advised to buy two bottles as they were going quickly; nice sales pitch I thought. Today, having received my bottle and enjoyed the best thing I've tasted from Springbank's post 1989 distillations, it hurts to call back and find out that they did indeed sell out of all 350 plus bottles.

But the one I did get is fantastic, a bourbon wood bottling that is as good as anything from sherry wood, and I am normally a sucker for
Springbank from a sherry cask. Loads of all that is great about
Springbank, thick on the palate with barley sugar and coconut, zen like finish. By comparison I have been pretty much disappointed with the latest OBs to date (10yo, 15yo, 12 175th anniversary) although I haven't tried the Wood Expressions. Springbank is releasing two new OBs next month, a 10yo 100 Proof and a 12yo ex-bourbon from cask in the Wood
Expressions range. I look forward to seeing if they are as good as what
Sam's lucked in on.

tried it last week. Disappointing at first: guess i was hoping for at leat some peatiness of the Islay type. But, tried it a second time, and it was
MUCH better.

It's one that really grew on me. It's an exceedingly warm, mellow, pleasing whisky.

The 10yo left me unmoved, but I really liked the 12/175th. Not just as the best of the currently available stock but as a tasty good whisky, period.
I haven't tried the new 15yo. And the Sherrywood Expression 12yo is now available but I haven't tried it either. I didn't care for the Rumwood
Expression 12yo, but it's always good to see cask strength Springbank on the shelf... I've come to appreciate the unsherried side of Springbank lately, after finding some mid-nineties bottlings of very light un-sherried
Springer 12's and 15's. Great as they were, though, they were "small" whiskies in a way - the later late-'90's "very sherried" whiskies were earth shaking colossi by comparison!

Taste any current expression and someone will say, "You should have tasted the 12/100". Taste the 12/100 and someone will say, "You should have tasted the 21yo". Taste the 21yo and someone will say, "You should have tasted the old black-and-white label bottlings". And so it goes...
Fond memories of times and places and people now lost to us, or desire to revisit once again the flavor of a bottle now un-attainable, tints our memories in golden hues. Given the bottling practices of Springbank today's whisky will be different from that of a few years ago, and different from that of a few years to come as well. Nothing is more certain than that in a few years people will say, "You should have tasted the 12/175th!"

Thanks, I hadn't heard about that. The Bourbonwood Expression does sound like an interesting version. And MMD showed with their 9yo
Springbank what the distillery can do even at a young age, so the fact that the current 10yo was ho-hum certainly does not mean the next 10yo will be also. Bottling small vattings can do that.

I don't know how I feel about the current spate of retailer bottled malts. It's certainly good to see more rare malt bottled, and individual cask bottlings are always interesting, and some owners seem to neglect their own holdings (I'm thinking of Glen Garioch, of course), but unless one lives in the vicinity they may be beyond one's reach - if one hears of them at all! Of course, it's true that it's always been that way, with bottlings available in European markets only, or duty-free, or only for the U.S., or Asian markets, or only available at the distillery itself...

(Just the grumbling of a kid looking through the candy store window, since the local retailers have declined to bottle a cask themselves...)

15yo, 12 175th anniversary) although I haven't tried the Wood Expressions.

In case anyone missed this, or I misquoted everything on the label, my
Springbank Stills of Scotland (1997; 5yrs 45%; un-chillfiltered) is LOADS better than the last Springbank 10 I bought two years ago. The 10 had no flavor--except cane sugar. The 5 is flowery and distinctive--with a beautiful touch of peat. I hope this is a trend--distilleries adding more peat because it gives whiskies distinctive flavor and character, for crying out loud.

Speak of the devil--I just picked up a Jura Superstition for $28.99 U.S.
today here in Madison, Wisconsin. I'm sure they have mis-priced it, but I didn't ask any questions, because I think it is none of my business if they have. Though I might go back tomorrow and give them more business.

Just glad to hear that Superstition has finally arrived in U.S. stores!
When you get around to it, let us know what you think.

(I'm one of those who likes the ordinary Jura 10yo, though I would never call it a great whisky.)

If it's in Madison today it should be on local shelves by 2006, 2007,...