Whisky: Springbank 11 Year (1999) Open Day 2011

Country/Region: Scotland/Campbeltown

ABV: 56.1%

Cask: Red Wine Hogshead

Age: 11 Years (Distilled Oct. 1999, Bottled 19 May 2011)

Nose: Rich fruits and dark chocolate, big cask-driven notes, decadent ganache, nougat, caramel, herbal elements in the background with pine wood and wispy smoke.

Palate: Medium to full-bodied, chocolate, herbs, peppery spirit all the way through, hints of licorice and milk chocolate, concentrated sweet fruits, more herbal toward the end with pine and baking spice.

Finish: Medium-length, mildly fruity with chocolate, quite spirited and peppery.

Score: 5 (75)

Mental Image: Electrical Fire at the Chocolate Factory

Narrative & Notes: Fruit and chocolate put me in mind of an upscale chocolate shop with milk chocolate, rose chocolate, and fruit ganache pipped inside cocoa dusted morsels— the sort of place with a big sign saying “chocolatier”. Cookie wafers and nougat carried the affair toward candy bars with lacquered wood, herbal incense, leather, and wispy candle smoke taking a turn toward a Christmas Mass with hints of pine. Medium to full-bodied with chocolate and fruits leading into a brier patch of herbal spices and peppery spirit.  Initially a touch of licorice and milk chocolate oozed across the palate with fruit ganache— raspberry and cherry mostly. Slightly leathery, the flavors ran headlong into an herbal tangle with pine, tannic black tea, cinnamon, clove, and oregano. The finish was medium-length and mildly fruity with a touch of chocolate, but otherwise quite peppery and spirited.

Loaded with classic red wine chocolates and fruits, this felt a bit ramshackle and incomplete to me as hints of brine, batteries, and char never quite integrated with the influence of the cask. A few drops of water helped clarify some of the fruits and tame the slightly acrid herbal elements, but the flavors still felt a bit mismatched— like a box of chocolates without any coherent theme.

Overall, I cannot imagine I will be hunting down any more wine cask Springbank after this, not unless someone suggests something to change my mind on the combination.