Springbank 10 Year Old Impressions

What is it? 

Distillery: Springbank, Campbeltown, Scotland

Name: Springbank 10 Year Old

Make: Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Extra Info: Springbank has been owned and operated by the Mitchell family for five generations and is the only distillery in Scotland where 100% of the whisky making process is carried out on site.

Why did I buy it?

Springbank had been popping up on my radar for a while, but it wasn't until I googled it that I knew I had to try it. The Springbank 10 Year Old is the distillery's flagship expression but unlike some larger distilleries, no Springbank whisky contains e150 colouring and all whiskies are non-chill filtered. It was also a chance to try another non-Islay peated whisky since both Springbank and Longrow expressions are peated. 

What did I think of it?

Presentation: I love the packaging of Springbank whiskies. Simple, clean and elegant. A nicely shaped clear glass bottle is shared across the Springbank range with differently coloured labels used to distinguish the various expressions. The Springbank 10 Year Old has a black label with orange and white writing. The Springbank watermark is repeated over the background of the label and on the cardboard box the whisky comes in, cut out to show the bottle inside. Unique and very stylish.

Appearance: With no added colouring or chill-filtering (note it is bottled at 46% ABV, since the esters that chill-filtration typically remove are soluble at 46% ABV and greater), the light gold colour comes purely from the barrels the whisky is matured in.

Aroma: Stewed fruit, earthy smoke, caramel and vanilla.

Flavour: Light smoke, oak, cinnamon. 

Finish: Long, tingling spice lingers.

Would I buy it again?

Without a doubt. The Springbank 10 Year Old is one of those whiskies that I will always keep a bottle of on my shelf. Some of the limited expressions from Springbank can fetch a pretty penny but the 10 Year Old is very reasonably priced and easy to find at specialist whisky retailers or online. I highly recommend that you begin your Campbeltown scotch whisky education with a bottle of Springbank 10 Year Old.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to have the nose and palate of a Master Sommelier, however, I am working to train my senses to better identify whisky aromas and flavours. Consider all my whisky 'Impressions' to be a work in progress and I hope to come back to each of them in the future to see if I notice anything different. Most importantly, I'm not just throwing around random aromas, flavours and adjectives for the hell of it; I am trying really hard to critically describe each whisky I taste - WhiskyDad.