Review #80: Springbank 18
While we were out drinking in Barcelona, we hit up a great little whisky bar called La Whiskeria. The bar has a classic jazz theme, a good selection of drams, and it’s not too crowded. After running through a large portion of the list, we asked the bartender there for recommendations. He brought up Springbank 18 and 21 up several times before we agreed to do it.
I’ll admit I had hitherto been disappointed with Campbeltown whisky whiskies. They tended to be too light for me. So when we agreed to sample the Springbank 18 and 21, we were mostly just trying to save face to the bartender – rather than being motivated ourselves. We had to admit privately to ourselves afterward that we had not been giving Springbank enough of a glance; the drams were phenomenal.
Drunken Diplomacy Reviews Springbank 18
- Score - 8/108/10
Overall
Tasting Notes
Nose: Gummy bear, white wine a little past its prime, beech wood, lemon, dry, and a very mineral chardonnay concentrate. Smoked citrus and lemon peel.
Palate: Lemon meringue, toffee, dark chocolate, Twizzlers, cream corn, cherry, numbing, grapefruit, sugar, milk chocolate. Subtle light mouthfeel.
Finish: Waves of smoked cherry and chocolate.
Summary
Overall: 8/10. I really enjoyed this one. Very complex.
Price: $199/bottle. I think we paid around 20 euros for the dram at La Whiskeria.
Quick overview of our scoring system
Additional Information
- ABV: 46%
- Matured in a combination of ex-bourbon (20%) and ex-sherry (80%).
About Springbank
- Started in 1828, and one of the highly lauded Campbeltown distilleries. Founded by Arhcibald Mitchell whose great-great-great grandson owns the distillery today.
- Springbank tends to get a bit of salt from the gulf stream.
- One of only two distilleries in Scotland that goes through all the steps of distillation, malting, mashing, distilling, bottling all in the same place.