Springbank 10 (2019)
Strength: 46% ABV
Purchased: 2019 for $70.00 + tax
Aged: 10 years
Casks: ??
Presentation: Non-chill filtered, Natural Color.
Original Review: 12/26/2020
Score: 8. Excellent. (Skip to the Review)
From the Archives: FTA is a series of tasting notes and reviews that I had hand written earlier on in my whisky journey. These notes may not reflect how I would feel today, but represent my attempts to begin verbalizing what I was experiencing. I chose to hand write these because that seemed like a more intimate and focused effort. It also made me slow down a bit to think, write, and shake off any writing cramps between sips. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did add some text to make the reading experience a bit easier. I hope these ‘reviews’ will provide some context in my journey and will provide some reference points for my evolving palate over time.
The Review
Details: I enjoyed this bottle before I was aware of the bottle codes used to distinguish different batches of Springbank 10 year old so I did not record it in any of my notes. Additionally, I can see this was another example where I struggled to identify a lot of individual notes and focused more on trying to describe the overall experience. At any rate, this is a good example of a new Scotch drinker identifying that they loved something, but not being quite sure why.
Nose: Light peat, lime, pear, cantaloupe melon, maritime and salty. Complex and pleasant.
Palate: Sweet and fruity with hints of charcoal. Well balanced.
Finish: The peat from the nose shows up. There is a fizzy and peppery sensation throughout. Fruitiness carries through, but takes a back seat to the stronger peat flavors.
Overall: Characterful all around. Cohesive and balanced. Thoroughly delicious and a favorite of mine thus far. Score: 9/10.
In Retrospect: Springbank has remained my favorite overall distillery to this day, and it did not take long for me to identify that. I was certainly aware of the buzz around Springbank at that time, which had not quite reached the mania that surrounds it today, however I do remember truly loving this bottle immediately, regardless of general opinion. I also remember scoffing at the idea of paying $70 for a 10 year old Scotch at that time. Now days, Springbank 10 typically is seen on shelfs for $100-110 in the United States, no thanks to Pacific Edge Imports who (allegedly) up-charge to force stores to list bottles at auction prices + overseas shipping for Springbank here in the U.S.. This often means it is cheaper and/or easier to just buy Springbank bottlings from overseas auction sites. Of course some stores take additional liberty to get their added cut as well. This is all compounded by uncertainty at when bottles will be arriving, and that can vary widely by where you live. Hunting these bottles and finding them for an “acceptable” price is often times a total luck of the draw unless you have a store owner willing to save them for you and let you know when they come in.
Let’s get back to the point…I do wish I knew what batch this particular bottle was from as some idea of the casks used could provide context to some of my vague notes. I do not think that ‘funk’ was in my vocabulary at that time so I went with ‘peat.’ What is clear is that none of that mattered at the time and this was something I just enjoyed. Replacing this bottle was somewhat difficult, although that was when I learned about the batch releases as a few months after I finished this bottle, during the pandemic, the next batch did eventually arrive on U.S. shores and I was able to get a new one. Springbank 10 continues to be a standard on my shelf, and being that in maybe the first and only time ever, I saw the writing on the wall and was able to build up a stash of bottles, ensuring I will not have to go without one on my shelf for the foreseeable future, regardless of price increases. I gave this a very good score at the time, however I am not going to go with a 9 as that seems a bit over the top. A solid 8/10 though. Score: 8/10. Excellent.
Whisky Against Humanity 
Leave a comment