Whisky: Springbank 26 Year (1997), Cadenhead's

Country/Region: Scotland/Campbeltown

ABV: 56.7%

Cask: Bourbon Hogshead

Age: 26 Years (Distilled 1997, Bottled 2023)

Nose: Coastal with tropical fruits, earth, medicinal herbs, wood, and tar; tropical and industrial with a dirty dockside quality and citrus.

Palate: Medium-bodied, oily and coastal, tropical fruits, mint, shiso, herbal medicinal spices, hessian, industrial harbor and dank herbs.

Finish: Medium to long with soft pepper, maritime brine, and hints of tropical citrus.

Score: 8 (88)

Mental Image: Harbor District Redevelopment

Narrative & Notes: Tropical fruits laid out on coastal drying racks— pineapple rings and mango slices with a touch of dry earth, camphor, salt, wood, and tar. Lime and guava developed more slowly with hints of some dank industrial quality; like a shrimp boat dock during the day while the boats are all gone and a softer aroma of engines, nets, lubricants, and rusted metal remains. Medium-bodied and mildly oily with a delightful melange of sliced tropical fruits with mint and shiso— an upscale mojito with a stick of freshly cut sugar cane? Slightly grassy and herbal with camphor, dried passion flower, citrusy yuzu, pineapple, and guava. Danker and mustier over time as ginger, cigarette smoke, hessian, and subtle harbor notes filtered in and pulled those grassy elements to the end.  The finish was medium to long with a soft pepper, maritime brine, and hints of tropical citrus.

There was no time to taste everything we wanted during our sojourn to Campbeltown earlier this year, so I did my best to pick a handful of interesting drams to bring home.  This was one of the pours I grabbed from Cadehead’s Tasting Room cafe.

I was pleasantly surprised by the blend of tropical citrus, maritime brine, and faintly industrial or harbor-side notes. The whisky was generally clean with just an undercurrent of those danker notes on the nose and then a musty, slightly dirty herbal tobacco element on the back end on the palate. It lacked some of the deeper tropical and maritime complexity of my absolute favorite Springbank of this age, but the flavors were clean and well-defined.

Overall, beautiful stuff— Springbank is rare as hen’s teeth in my parts, so it has been an absolute delight that I have been able to try so many different casks and bottles this year.  I doubt that will be repeated any time soon.