Too many Springbank tasting notes with cobwebs on them so let’s have a Springbank week here on the blog. We’ll start with a blend, Spirit of Freedom 30 Year Old, which isn’t a true Springbank but is produced by J & A Mitchell, the owners of Springbank and probably contains some old Springbank spirit in it.

Spirit of Freedom was released to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 which is a big and important milestone for Scotland (read about it  at Wikipedia as we’re focusing on whisky here :))

It is composed of 75% malt whisky (from five distilleries, one from each whisky region and I assume Springbank is the logical choice to represent Campbeldown region) and 25% grain whisky, from a mix of bourbon and sherry casks.

Springbank Spirit of Freedom 30yo (46%, 2014 bottles, £86.2)

Nose: A very relaxed nose as the maturation age is noticeable here. The nose harbors some herbal edge, old sweet grain, banana, sweet honey, sweet kumquat, coconut and dare I say there’s even some wax note here.

Palate: Mellow grains at first, spicy pepper and honey, wax, oak bitterness, banana, kumquat again but with also papaya, some herbal flavors (more than what the nose hinted at).

Finish: Medium length with oak wood spices, lingering honey and tropical fruits juice.

Thoughts: Good stuff. It’s a blend but it’s a very good blend as the age lend a hand or two in making it a very mellow and fruity whisky. It was released for £75 which was a very good deal and i daresay that even now when it’s £86, it’s still a good deal.