Springbank 18 Year Old Whisky 70cl

Springbank 10 is my favourite whisky so I had high hopes for this, but must admit I was underwhelmed. With a side by side comparison I still preferred the 10! I know taste is subjective, but when you're paying more than twice the price you expect a smoothneess and complexity from an 18 year old that should far surpass a 10 - maybe that shows how good the 10 really is?!
If I have the money a Talisker 18 is better value and tastier in my opinion. (review based on an August 2020 bottling)

Just gorgeous.

Very good

Fantastic; smooth slightly peaty with a warm finish ;

Excellent

Their Cask Strength 12 leave this dead and it's cheaper.

The 18 is a bit weak for me. I was never in love with the first editions either. I like my Sprinbanks like my sports cars: at full strength. I had my mechanic reprogrammed the computer in my latest Beamer, and uI sually don't buy 46 AVB Springbanks, althought that's way better than 43 percent, which is feeble unless the Scotch is very old, in which case, it's acceptable. I've had quite a few 18's in my cabinet at home over the years. They were nice and very pleasant, especially at around 75 pounds back in the day.

As for "chills," I like this vid about "things found on ice": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyx-qv6Yaxo . As for Springbank 18, I see that a lot of people have weighed in on whether or not to chill the Charlie Dickens out of it.

I think chillin' a Springbank 10 is far out, as is mixing a ten into a cocktail. Way cool. But chilling an 18? No way Jose Cuervo. And that goes double for pouring an 18 in a cocktail.

Farbeit from me to tell anyone what to do. If a man wants to stare into the sun and blind himself, that's his business. If a man wants to dive off a cruise ship whilst ambling chugging merrily past Antarctica, that's his business. The world is an overpopulated place.

Now if that man was a friend of mine, or even an acquaintance, then I would fight like hell to keep him from jumping overboard. For sure. And I would certainly pull him out of the sun before he went blind, and book him an appointment with my shrink.

Now, that said . . . If a man wants to put ice or whisky rocks into his glass of Springbank 18, this might be best done while staring into the sun right before jumping into the frigid waters of Antarctica. But I would still be friends with him, of course. I'm no judger of my friends. Well, I am, but I keep my judgments to myself and STHU.

It's not even a good idea to chill a 12 year CS Springbank unless it happens to be one of the ghastly sulfured batches, such as 17. I hate sulfur and disagree with calling it gunpowder or match sticks. IMO, it's just sloppy whisky making in which the sulfur used to keep casks from growing feet and walking away (due to mildew etc) wasn't done right. I bought a few Batch 17 Springbank 12 CS's and was very disappointed with them, but they went nicely in cocktails WITH ICE.

This 18 yr is just not for me. I have tried it twice and both bottles ended up going down the drain. Now, I like the 15 yr old quite a bit and just tried the 21 yr bottled in 2018 which I really thought was outstanding. I think Glen Scotia 18 yr with the sherry finish is a far better malt by far.

Long finish, the extra years smooth out the rough edges of the 10 & 15 yr old. Balanced and complex this is worth every penny. Going to be hard to make this one last.

Hi there, it's just perfect whisky. The balance is rich and i love it...