Springbank 10 Year
I’ve been meaning to write about this scotch for over a month now. Springbank is a malt that I’ve always thought very highly of, despite only having tasted a rather small handful of their bottlings. And so a month or more ago when I was taken aback at the lack of a single scotch in my collection, I decided to take a shot at their basic bottling, the 10-year old. I’d never had a bottle of the Springbank before, and so it seemed like the time was right.
Springbank is essentially the last remaining vestige of Campbeltown’s illustrious distilling history. A small town located on the island of Kintyre, southwest of Islay, Campbeltown once played host to 25 distilleries during the 1800′s and was known as ‘The Whisky City’. The changing needs of blenders and changing economic realities eventually reduced the number of distilleries to the two that exist today, Springbank and Glen Scotia. Whereas Glen Scotia is staying somewhat anonymous while producing 100,000 litres of scotch each year, Springbank has endeavored to revive some of Campbeltown’s distilling history. In the past several years they’ve brought back two formerly forgotten brands, Longrow (a peaty-style malt) and Hazelburn (a non-peated, lighter malt). In total, Springbank produces 125,000 litres each year, just a quarter more than Glen Scotia.
But it’s how Springbank produces this amount that is so remarkable. They remain the only distillery in Scotland producing their scotch entirely themselves, from sourcing and malting the grain, to bottling the final product. Just the fact that they produce all of their own maltings is astonishing. A handful of other distilleries produce a (small) portion of their malt, Laphroaig and Highland Park among them, but no one produces 100% of their requirements. This is remarkable, even if you take into consideration their much smaller production (both Laphroaig and Highland Park produce 2 million litres annually). Add to this the fact that Springbank actually cuts and dries their own peat, and has their own cooperage…wow! Really quite astounding. I think it is fair to make the argument that Springbank is the only true “artisan” scotch that you can buy. For a distillery that opened its doors for the first time in 1828, and has suffered only brief periods of closure since then, this is quite a distinction.
Now for some of the gory details:
- The PPM (Phenol) of their malt is somewhat low, 7-8ppm
- They use a cast-iron mash tun
- The total fermentation time for their wort is 72 hours
- Their wash still uses a rummager, a linked-metal chain that scours the bottom of the still to prevent burning
- Their wash still is heated using both direct-oil fire and internal steam, the only still in Scotland using both heating methods
- They fill their casks at 63.5%
- They use a combination of refill bourbon barrels, sherry hogsheads, and rum casks for aging
- They age all of their scotch onsite
Lots of gory details, and I left some of the goriest out (want to the size of their stills, the makeup of their grist…no?), but you get the idea. Springbank is an exciting distillery to learn about, and as I said earlier, I’ve enjoyed all of the malts of their that I’ve tried.
The most exciting was easily the Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling that I had the opportunity to try a year or so ago. It was a sweet, smoky scotch that remained light on the palate and easy to drink. Not having access to something quite like that on a moment’s notice, I’ve been lucky to have to “make-do” with the 10-year old.
The 10-year old is a blend of bourbon and sherry casks. The color is warm gold. The nose is distinctly smoky, underscored by a hint of melon, apple, cotton candy, and citrus. The palate opens up with a pleasant smokiness, followed by pears, honey, and a hint of butterscotch. This trails away into a warmly sweet finish, consisting of subtle sweetness and just a hint of smoke. Throughout the scotch is lightly bodied, with little-to-no oiliness.
This is a bit of a quaffer-style scotch. Great flavors play out very nicely in a scotch that has enough body to have a presence, but not enough to be heavy-handed. Instead, you can comfortably sip this without needing to add any water.
In my mind, this is an ideal spring scotch. I don’t think it is stout enough to stand up to a cold winter’s eve, nor to a cool, wet fall evening. But pour yourself a dram of this on an early spring evening, when the weather is just starting to let you know that winter is ending, and the days are finally getting a bit longer, and you’ll hit the nail on the head.
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