Time for another single cask from the Maltman label. Another Port you say? Yes, another one. [after the kilchoman,and others recently, and more coming soon!]
This time a very unusual port cask (first fill) Springbank, distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2014, making it 16 yo. A first fill port cask is an interesting choice as this is bound to impact the liquid quite a bit with the wine notes. Not sure I’ve had a springer with the same profile. Let’s try it shall we?
Springbank 16 years Port Cask, Maltman 51,7%vol ,€119
Nose: Sweet, with quite a bit of wine-y feel to it, desert wine (ok, port), and quite a lot of very sweet fruit jam, some sort of berries also a certain dirty , earthy kind of feel to it, which is good since its a Springbank after all. It’s manly and rough.
Palate: Very concentrated and spicy up front, with pepper and chilly, a bit of perfume there, and tannins, red fruit jam, sugar and oak, then getting dry.
Finish: Dry, with fortified wine and jam.
This is a good whisky, but sadly it does not go beyond “good”. The port does not work for me in this combination, for some reason. I tend to prefer my Springbanks to be naked, so the ex-bourbon cask enhance the liquid, not alter it too much. Sherry too maybe. A good choice if you’re the port fan. I’m not a huge port fan myself.
Apart from whether it’s good or not, I also find it rather expensive. 120 bucks for a sixteen year old Springer seems like an awful lot if you can get officials and SMWS bottlings (for example) for 2/3 of the price.
Correct