Review #102: Springbank 18 Fresh Sherry Cask
Last Thursday, before the COVID-19 crisis quarantined us all starting this week, we went to Overproof. The reservations had been long outstanding – I made them early February, so I felt obligated to go (there was a $25/pp cancellation fee on Resy). The normally packed upstairs enclave (Overproof is the small semi-secret bar above the main bar ABV) was relatively quiet, so we had the bartenders primarily to ourselves.
The Overproof menu is excellent. There’s a cocktail flight with tasting sized cocktails of their main five (very creative) cocktails, a la carte options of said cocktails, and flights of rare spirits and negronis. We went with several of the a la carte options, a negroni flight (very fun), and the scotch rare flight series.
The $52 scotch flight featured Campbeltown scotches with interesting finishes: Longrow Sauternes, Springbank 18 fresh sherry, and Kilkerran Oloroso. They were enjoyable but not bottles that I plan to purchase anytime soon.
The Springbank 18 fresh sherry cask captured my imagination; I think I’ve had plenty of refill sherry casks by now, but a fresh sherry is interesting – particularly since usually it’s advised against for older scotches because it can become overwhelmingly oaky. I’ve had several other Springbank 18 releases (like the ex-bourbon cask), but a 2018 release was from fresh sherry casks.
Tasting Notes
Nose. Funky sherry, light vanilla, pears, prunes, black cherries. definitely sherried, honey, malt
Palate. White wine, Strong apple pie, some vanilla extract and cinnamon, warming hot cocoa. Tomatoes… kinda savory. Lemon
Slightly spicy fade
Summary
Overall: 7/10. Wish it were stronger. Umami sweet
Bought for: $52/flight of 3 whiskies. The typical retail value of this bottle was $270 when it was sold.
Quick overview of our scoring system
Additional Information
- ABV: 46%
- Distilled: March 2000
- Bottled: July 2018
- Age: 18 years
- Cask type: Fresh Sherry
- Number of bottles: 282
About
- Springbank releases various 18-year-old releases, with its first edition released in 2009 of a 80% ex-sherry and 20% ex-bourbon
- The only Scottish distillery to claim performing 100% of the the whisky-making processes, from malting the barley to bottling the spirit on-site
- Owned by J&A Mitchell & Company, who also own Glengyle and William Cadenheads
- Campbeltown once had over thirty active distilleries