In June 2025 Springbank distillery kicked off a brand new annual Springbank Classic sequence. This assortment will function restricted editions that showcase a few of their oldest whiskies.
The inaugural launch is the Springbank 1998 Classic, which matured in sherry casks, a mixture of refill and first fill Oloroso casks. As a classic launch it doesn’t have an age assertion, however it’s meant to be a substitute for the Springbank 25 Years.
Kudos to Springbank for additionally providing a tasting pack which included samples of this new launch, together with the newest Native Barley and new batches of some ongoing releases. There’s an accompanying on-line tasting in July however we couldn’t wait till then.
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Springbank 1998 Classic (48,3%, OB 2025, Oloroso sherry casks, 1500 btl.)
Nostril: loads of funky notes, moist wooden and mulching forest leaves, actually savoury. Salty air, previous resin and a musty cellar. In a second wave I’m getting darkish cocoa, hazelnuts, fudge and hints of dates. Later I’m additionally selecting up flashes of a fruity sourness, assume cranberries and bitter cherry, in addition to a gentle trace of pale potpourri.
Mouth: on the skinny facet, and really savoury with a number of herbs and tobacco leaves. Loads of moist soil. Then sea salt, extra roasted nuts and lemon peelings. Black peppercorns and hints of linseed oil. Roasted chestnuts and occasional. Solely flashes of bitter berries. Mid-palate a meaty / winey notice comes out, nearer to a pink wine cask than to Oloroso in my view. Natural extracts and a few leather-based as effectively.
End: medium size, with extra leather-based, some salted caramel and nutmeg.
It is a actually good whisky, introduced down by one attribute that bothers me. It’s arduous to place the finger on it, but it surely leans an excessive amount of in the direction of musty and savoury notes for me. General nonetheless excellent however my hopes have been even larger. In spite of everything impartial bottlers have launched higher casks (granted, at a good larger value). This already confirmed up at Royal Mile Whiskies and Abbey Whisky but it surely sells out rapidly. I suppose it would additionally seem in different international locations shortly.
