Springbank 24 Year (1996), Sansibar for Japanwhisky.com
Whisky: Springbank 24 Year (1996), Sansibar for Japanwhisky.com
Country/Region: Scotland/Campbeltown
ABV: 49.1%
Cask: Sherry Cask, Madeira Finish
Age: 24 Years (Distilled 1996, Bottled 2020)
Nose: Big cask notes, stewed fruit, leather, lacquered wood, earthy, rotten wood, sulfurous, pencils, roasted nuts, slightly meat at times.
Palate: Medium-bodied and syrupy, stewed stone fruits, sulfurous funk, cinnamon candies, honey, malty pastries, leather, struck matches, earthier toward the end with more lacquered wood.
Finish: Long and dry with fruits, molasses, and wet leather.
Score: 6 (78)
Mental Image: Sneakers with a Secret Snack Pocket
Narrative & Notes: A massive cask affair, stewed fruits and wet leather exploded in the vapors with a shower of lacquered wood splinters. Earthy notions of rotting logs and mushrooms arrived with a sulfurous funk that drifted from new pencils, leather shoes, and ink to bubbling hot springs, roasted nuts, and a bit of rancid cooking oil. Slightly meaty with time, more of the stewed fruits faded as hardwoods and wood stain gathered force. Medium-bodied and syrupy, stewed plums and dry raisins landed with a concentrated sweetness with sulfurous funk close behind. Syrupy fruits and cinnamon candies met honey and butter short bread desserts, while leather oil, shoe polish, and struck match heads lingered further in. Hints of the earthiness of the aroma appeared around the edges, with more of the wood shop dominating. The finish was long with dry fruits, molasses, and wet leather.
This is just not my kind of whisky— you would never know it was Springbank after such an aggressive casking. When I saw that this had been finished in a madeira cask after a sherry maturation, I wondered if it would be a funky, sulfurous beast. I could think of no other reason why a mature Springbank would get such an intense finish if not to cover for some eccentricities on the initial maturation.
At first, I thought I had it wrong, there were so many concentrated fruits and wood notes that the funkier and sulfurous elements were banished from my mind. As the whisky settled though, those qualities asserted themselves and were unmistakable on the palate. I would warn away the sulfur sensitive, though I did not think it was a fatal flaw on this whisky. The casking was aggressive, but the wood was well-integrated and never overly astringent, tannic, or drying.
Overall, I am a bit shocked at how highly this is rated on Whiskybase considering the fact that it is basically all cask, and more than just tinged with sulfur. I assume two things are at play here: the reputation of Springbank and the price of the bottle. I get it, if you love Springbank or bought a bottle, you want to love it. I find myself feeling that way all the time— though not in this instance.
