Field Briefs: Barley to Bottle Warehouse Tasting
One of the highlights of our time at Springbank was the distillery warehouse tasting, which is also a keystone moment in the barley to bottle experience— something I would certainly sign up for were I ever in the area again. The tasting took place in one of the large dunnage warehouses at the distillery that looked at though it had been prepped and primed for the experience— we also saw other people in the dunnage doing various tastings while we were traipsing around the larger campus.
This was my favorite tasting of the entire experience as it involved several of the oldest whiskies available at the distillery and there was no hope of ever trying these outside of the tasting. In fact we were told that there were only a handful of Hazelburn casks remaining from the initial 1997 distillation and that the oldest Springbank cask remained was 1989. Most of the similarly aged casks that remained are privately owned, and we saw a private cask of 1997 Hazelburn being prepared for bottling while in another warehouse.
The whiskies were nearly all divine— the Hazelburn and Springbank were two of the best I have ever had under those labels. The Longrow was delicious, but not quite as strong, and we were really scraping the bottom of the cask for those drams, thus they had quite a bit of chewy texture (ie, debris in them). The Kilkerran was interesting, but not something I would normally pour and I imagine it was included in the lineup less for its impressive stats and more so that we could have a go at the valinch and extracting whisky straight from the cask.
Whisky Details: Hazelburn 24 Year (1999) Barley to Bottle Tour, 47.4%
Nose: Christmas was in the air with fruit cake, treacle, fudge, and berry jam; the aroma moved toward a midnight mass by candlelight with leather, lacquered wood, and hints of incense and melted wax.
Palate: Medium to light-bodied, nutty and slightly savory, jammy fruits and cured meats, leather, melon rind and prosciutto, charred wood, bitter chocolate, leather; waxier with water or time.
Finish: Long and lingering, drying, cinnamon tea and molasses cake, a touch of chicory and clove.
Score: 8-9 (90)
Mental Image: Midnight Mass Snack Spread
Narrative & Notes: Brilliant. This was completely unlike any Hazelburn I have ever tried, though that list is not extensive. The lighter, triple distilled product from Springbank is not the sort of thing that tickles my fancy so I have never really sought it out. Maybe I should reevaluate that though as this was fantastic and just dripping with Christmas spices, fruits, and wispy smoke or char.
The cask took center stage and I am somewhat unsure where the magic of the malt or the sherry cask began or ended. Beyond a touch of bitterness on the finish, this was beautiful and our group was fairly evenly split as to whether this or the following Springbank were the best of the tasting— and the best whiskies we had during our entire Campbeltown sojourn.
Whisky Details: Springbank 32 Year (1990) Barley to Bottle
Nose: Tropical and malty with pineapple cakes, winter melon, passion fruit, lilikoi butter, passion flower tea, musty earth and dunnage, hints of guava and tropical stone fruits with more time.
Palate: Medium-bodied, woody and tropical with passion flower and green mango, oily on the palate, even buttery at times; dirty motor garage floors, oil stained rags, gentle woody spice; fruitier at turns with underripe pineapple and citrus candies; water brought more tropical citrus sodas to the garage.
Finish: Very long with buttery shortbread pastries, pineapple ginger ham, and hints of orange rind.
Score: 9 (94)
Mental Image: Opening Hour at the Tropical Farmer’s Market
Narrative & Notes: Was this really that good, or was it the romance of the dunnage warehouse on a crisp cool day spent with friends? The environment and occasion can absolutely elevate an experience and our impression of a whisky— I have no problem with this and it is one of my favorite aspects of tasting. We might pick up generally the same notes on different occasions, but the way we feel about the whisky and our impression of it, can be highly influenced by the circumstance of when we taste it. Everything from the time of day, company, weather, etc. can all play a role along with more obvious factors like the food we have eaten, the amount of water we have had, and our general mood.
So did I rate this higher due to the romance of the experience— or did I rate it lower thinking about how all those factors were influencing my impression? I love to over think things, that is part and parcel of being an academic, so let us keep it simple; this whisky was divine and quibbling over a few points would not change that.
Whisky Details: Kilkerran 10 Year Port Butt, 56.4%
Nose: Creamy nougat and caramel, dried herbs, roasted nuts, chunk peanut butter, a tough raw and spirited.
Palate: Medium to full-bodied, very herbal and sweet, dried berries, creamy meringue, ginger and sliced apples, earthier over time with hints of asphalt, charred herbs, beef fat caramels, Raisin Bran cereal.
Finish: Medium to long with caramel, herbs, a touch of tobacco, and peppery lacquered wood.
Score: 6 (78)
Mental Image: Butcher Shop Caramels
Narrative & Notes: This was about the third Kilkerran of the trip that left me feeling a bit disappointed— especially as I typically love the distillate and thought highly of the core 12-Year during our first evening. This was a touch too sweet for my taste, though it had delightful hints of farm and tobacco in the background. The port cask was not over done, though it toed the line, and its influence was generally balanced by the malt. I suspect, though, that the cask drove some of the peppery wood and caramel qualities.
Overall, a slightly off-kilter malt, but those sharp edges and unbalanced moments are part of the fun of trying a single cask whisky.
Whisky Details: Longrow 22 Year (2001), Refill Bourbon, 43%
Nose: Tropical fruit and coconut-based beach bronzer lotions, woody coconut husk and meat, grassy, bitter oranges, shave ice with sweet tropical syrups, guava candies.
Palate: Medium-bodied, tropical with guava and pineapple, wooden sticks for scooping shave ice, a touch of paper, beachy bright citrus and coconut, earth and dried grass; a touch of cream with water, wispy smoke.
Finish: Medium to long with refined sugar, citrusy lemon and pineapple, mellow earth and wispy smoke.
Score: 8 (87)
Mental Image: Beach Day Snack Break
Narrative & Notes: Lovely tropical fare— the whisky in our glass was quite textured, as it was clearly being pulled from a nearly empty cask. I wondered where the test of the cask went? The first two bottles we tried had clearly been part of the tasting experience for a few years, but this seemed to have replaced a slightly older Longrow on the warehouse tasting experience relatively recently. Perhaps the rest of the cask was bottled to be used in for tours going forward; or, it is possible that some of this cask went into an upcoming release of the 18 or 21 Year. Either way, it was delicious and I wish we saw more of these third or fourth fill casks for older malts in the warehouse. Everything was either first or second fill and we were informed that after two uses casks were typically cut up and sold as planters or other goods. The few casks that remained beyond their first couple of uses were typically employed to slow down the influence of wood in maturation, or allow a malt to rest or marry in less active wood.
