A bottle of the well-established mauve-packaged 18 Year Old Springbank. The multi-award-winning Campbeltown single malt has been matured in ex-bourbon casks, so expect a big, coastal, oily flavour from this one.
Toasted bananas, honey and bakewell tarts with coastal hints. Quite oily.
Big, spicy and gutsy, with notes of chilli, pine, citrus, aniseed and rich fruits.
Long, salty, chocolate caramels with hints of smoky fruit.
Thought I had died and gone to heaven. Must be the pride of Campbeltown. A real beauty. Glad we managed to acquire a bottle
I think there's an argument for ice and it's all about dynamics. Just take it slowly. The cold whisky's flavours are a bit dead, but you have the nice 'shock' of the cold. Now, don't swallow!.. wait, your mouth warms the whisky - boom, the flavours reveal themselves. Too much snobbery around cold whisky. Chocolate however is crap when chilled.
I've tasted the second edition of Springbank 18. It was pretty good. Now, all we have in my town are the white lettering on dark background label(third edition). Anyone taste this edition? What do you think?
My point was not that "very nice" has no right to do as he pleases with his money. If he wants to chill an expensive bottle of scotch, all power to him. I simply took exception to his statement that chilling a Springbank 18 "opens it up nicely." It doesn't and that is misleading. I stand by my original statement that it will close it tighter than a puckered oyster. Rocks or ice,chilling has the same effect on a great whisky like this beaut.
I drink it neat, and think it's excellent as such, but... if "very nice" likes it best chilled, who is anyone else to say otherwise? I would like to suggest that we would all be better served by opining on the dram, rather than the reviewers. That said, my opinion of the dram is I find it rich, oily, luscious, and complex. To me, a very good value, if spendy. I personally like it better than the 15, if only for a depth that I don't find in the 15. The 15 is very good, but I prefer the 18 and will go the extra coin for it. But that's just me. Sláinte!
