Review #172 - Springbank 10 Year (2021)
The base core range release from Springbank distillery - this is Springbank 10 Year, the youngest and most common of their age-stated bottles. It has the typical Springbank treatment, with quality specifications and no meddling with coloring or extra filtering.
The 10 Year generally leans toward the ex-bourbon side of maturation, though there's usually some amount of ex-sherry maturation as well; often, we see it in ratios like 60% bourbon/40% sherry, or 70% bourbon/30% sherry. Considering our love of ex-bourbon Springbank, this is giving us high hopes going into the tastings.
Springbank 10 Year
Scotland/Campbeltown - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 83 (2022)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 83 (2023)
Age Statement: 10 Years
Strength: 46% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; 2021 bottling
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 9 months; bottles at 100%, 70%, 60%, and 50% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Charred orange rind and some sharper, spirity notes - this is rich, and has quite a bit of depth for a 10 year whisky. Lots of different facets: sweetness from brown sugar, vanilla, and tropical fruits of melon and guava; spice from oak, cinnamon, and subtle smokiness; funky notes of industrial oil or a dank cellar. With time, you can tease out delicate scents of flowers and honeyed apples, maybe a hint of salinity.
Palate: Medium-thick mouthfeel, and like the nose, a diverse range of flavors. There's some spicy or peppery oak, some clove, along with some smoother buttery oak; fusel and oily notes from the spirit; tons of fruits, like apricot, creamy melon, lime sherbet, and apples; soft floral notes of perfume and wax, even honeycomb. Hidden behind the bright notes are some darker, deeper flavors from the sherry: oily sausage, dry red wine, just slightly savory.
Finish: Medium length, nicely rich and with a lingering weighty mouthfeel. Oak is pretty mild, but there are nice baking notes of honey, vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon spice; slightly funky notes of damp hay come, and then we end with a soft fruity flavor.
Final Note: It's just so solid. Really nice - not the punchiest due to the relatively standard ABV, but the flavor development is far ahead of most 10 year whiskies, and it incorporates flavors from many categories, like fruits, spice, spirit, and baking notes. It definitely does lean toward the ex-bourbon side of things - there are just subtle hints of the smaller proportion of sherry casks.
While this still isn't easy to find, the dynamics between supply and demand seem to be improving slightly, and we're seeing the bottle on shelves near us a little more often; auction prices are softening, too, so hopefully it's only going to improve from here. If you can buy this Springbank 10 around the RRP in your respective market, there's a decent chance you're getting good value for the level of flavor.
Our Average Rating: 7.5 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.83
