Today is Springbank day at the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2016 and while nowadays Springbank whiskies are cherished and loved by many whisky geeks (myself included), it’s a good opportunity to look back at a bit old version of Springbank 10 Year Old and see how its’ profile is vastly changed from the current familiar Springbank profile that encompass the entire current lineup.
The sample I tasted came from a miniature that is predating the current revision on the market and I believe it was bottled early 2000s or late 1990s.
Springbank 10 Year Old (46%)
Nose: Oh this is a bit unusual Springbank. Without sherry at all (so I think) and with a very farmy and malty profile. There’s a weak like smelling from far-away peat smoke, engines oil, honey, fields fertilizer, lemon and tangerines peels. After a while it gets dirtier with added citrus notes. Continue reading
Nose: Concentrated sweet fruit, very jammy. Red apples, oranges, vanilla, nuts, ginger spice and cinnamon, After a while in the glass there are canned apricots, salty water along with some background dryness but not everything is rosy here – it feels thin and lacking substance. 
Nose: Youth notes at first, lots of cereals, sweetness from the wine is lurking at the background but then comes the distinct red fruit notes. Fresh berries and plums, light and sweet with sour edge, vanilla too. Oh, there’s some soapy perfume too after a while and additional fruitiness and muted spices that reminds me sherry influence. 
Nose: Fruity (mainly pears) and very creamy with sweet vanilla and honey. Slowly some hints of spices show up and there’s almost no peat here. I guess it’s subdued by active cask. Very rounded and solid nose. With a few drops of water we get fresh lemon and it’s spicier yet still very creamy and a lot of vanilla (almost lactic feeling). 
Nose: Lovely sherried nose with soaked raisins, red berries and dried fruit. Bold cinnamon, demerara sugar, heavy and creamy. After a few minutes in the glass, whiffs of fresh ripe sour plums and vanilla. A few drops of water makes it lighter and fresher, I could even say it smells sweeter, there’s a lot more vanilla with added sweet fresh red fruit, berries and milk chocolate.
Nose: At first it smells very young with lots of cereals and even some random whiffs of new make . But after allowing it to open up in the glass it recovers nicely showing strong vanilla and honey notes along with fruity notes of pears, lemon peels and canned apricots in syrup. After adding a few drops of water it opens up very nicely and the fruity notes intensify, and the apricots are of the fresh ripe type. 
Nose: Dry and fuzzy, peat, sweet wine, butterscotch, sticky toffee, hazelnut, burnt wood smoke (Which reminds me of the PC12).
Nose: Very malty at first with cereals porridge, whiffs of orange and tangerines at first, it’s salty beyond my expectations, dusty with limestone as well, honey and vanilla, cut ripe peaches and apricots , minuscule traces of peat smoke, With additional time it becomes cloudy way beyond dusty and deep inhales reveals the funky lactic laddie trademark, and lemon honey. 
Nose: Very closed and muted at first due to the high ABv but slowly heavy sweetness develops along with heavy flowered meadow, apricots and peaches grove, burnt toffee, a bit over-burnt caramel, coals and wood smoke, late night bonfire remnants, almost not peated after the active cask robbed the phenols for 7 years. 
Nose: Cereals and sherry, lots of vanilla, also sherry spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. Dusty and limestone notes like in many other Glen Garioch whiskies, rubber, ginger, a touch of perfume but also unsavorable lactic note and cheese. 
Whisky Gospel 