Springbank Sample:12 years Cask strength Batch 12 54.1% NV

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (90)

I'm glad we have this popular baby in our glass again. The last batch we've tasted was #9, and we just loved it (WF 90). As they say, probably a no-brainer. Colour: pale gold. Nose: it's maybe a little more sherried than before, tenser, with more curry, also oak shavings, and ginger... But it's also very briny, seaside-y, smoky, kelpy (what?)... there's some menthol, horseradish, leather, cinchona... And all that works in sync, mind you! With water: swims like Ian Thorpe. Fast and good. Wet dogs (we really owe you, dogs), raw wool, mud, limestone, wet plaster, bandages... All that. Mouth (neat): same feeling, there's rather more oak extracts than in others, more pepper, more curry again... It's really huge, sharp, almost pungent... Grapefruit peel, Jägermeister, ginger, leather, cigar tobacco (chewing your old puro when you're near its end)... With water: the citrus fruits come to the front. Much grass and even wasabi in the back. Finish: long, sharp, very zesty. Comments: totally huge, puts many an Islay to shame as far as texture and body are concerned. Same score all over again.