I’m always up to trying new expressions from Springbank, those are rarely below the very good mark. They have been toying with quite some wood finishes over there : Barolo, Shiraz, Marsala, and more, but Calvados is a finish I’ve almost never tried, not in SB’s and not elsewhere, and it was really interesting to see what this one might bring other than the “notes of apples” ,that would be my first guess. A bit of info on this one : Aged 12 years: six years in refill Bourbon casks then six years in fresh Calvados casks. Bottled at a nice strength of 52.7%, It’s a fine start! Fortunately i was able to get a sample from a good whisky friend (Thank you Valeron!)
Springbank 12 Year Old Calvados Wood Finish ,52.70% ABV, £65
Nose : Lovely crisp peat layer upon fresh citrus , green apples and some apple strudel (again with green apples) , spice , cinnamon and a touch of vanilla. Not something i did not expect, but the lovely waft of peat worked quite well with the apples here.
Palate: Very oily mouth feel on this one, very nice. Starting on smoke. Malty and earthy feeling to it with bits of red apple peel , leather , pepper , vanilla sugar and cinnamon. Fudge like.
Finish : Dry. Bits of peat, smoke. And grape.
Solid stuff, very nice and well integrated in terms of fruit, peat smoke and spices. at 52.7% it has got a lovely mouth feel, and body. Lovely.