Review #416 - Springbank 10 Year Sherry Wood Pedro Ximenez Cask Matured (2022)
Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Known more colloquially as the Springbank 10 PX, this single malt was the first entrant in Springbank distillery's recently started Sherry Series. The initial maturation took place in ex-bourbon casks for 7 years, and the final 3 were in those syrupy PX sherry casks.
It's hard to avoid the conversation of availability and price when Springbank comes up. When this bottle initially retailed in the UK in 2022, prices sat at GBP 90, or around USD 115. After importation and markups, the retail pricing in the USA seemed closer to $150 or $160; now, at auction, the going rate is more like $350. Can a 10 year old sherry-aged single malt really be worth that much?
Springbank 10 Year Sherry Wood Pedro Ximenez Cask Matured (2022)
Scotland/Campbeltown - Single Malt
Current Locally Available Price: USD 350 (2024, based on recent auction results)
Age Statement: 10 Years
Strength: 55% ABV
Cask Makeup: Refill ex-bourbon casks, finished in Spanish oak ex-PX sherry hogsheads
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled July 2012, bottled October 2022; 10,800 bottles
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle 80% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: A bit mellow and subtle at first - slightly closed up. Springbank's spirit character, with its funk and barley, does come out, and the fruity scents grow with time: raspberry, prune, and orange. There's a dirty side to that distillate, and later on, the dry fruits become more juicy.
Palate: The flavor is more potent on the palate - juicy red fruits like raspberry and glazed strawberry, a little bit of heat from the strength, and a medium thickness mouthfeel. The spirit character adds some earthy notes and peat in the background - that smokiness starts quite mild, but grows to a medium level.
Finish: Medium-long, and the peat lingers for a while. It's still a bit earthy, and we get some barrel spices like black pepper; juicy orange takes over the fruit dimension.
Final Note: A pretty good whisky, and while the cask influence is quite strong, there's still a bit of that Springbank spirit character peeking through from the background. Lots of juicy red fruit, as you might expect - plenty of flavor once it opened up, but not the most complex or balanced. A solid Springbank entry, if a bit unexceptional.
Value, then, isn't so great. Even at the original distillery-suggested price, we're not sure it's an amazing deal - is it really that much better than the standard 10 year old, which only costs 50% to 60% as much? Not to our palettes, no. The crazy secondary pricing only makes this less of a value prospect.
Our Average Rating: 7.0 / 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: 4.37
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Springbank reviews:
Review #410 - Longrow 21 Year (2022)
Review #355 - Adelphi Springbank 21 Year Single Cask
Review #300 - ImpEx 1993 Springbank 25 Year
Review #221 - Longrow Red 15 Year - Pinot Noir Cask Matured
Review #184 - Springbank 15 Year
Review #172 - Springbank 10 Year
Review #171 - Springbank 18 Year
