Springbank Distillery, Scotland     founded: 1828 | active
For more detailed mapping of the distilleries in the area from our whisky map page, use this link.

The nose welcomes you with an evocation of the sea. A sea breeze and seaweed pervade but give way to more friendly flavours with the gentle flow of honey, caramel and molasses hiding a sharper sweetness of apple cider and the freshness of pine. Over it all the strength is immediately apparent with a blast of iodine attempting to dominate the underlying flavours.

With the first taste the sea rushes up and smacks you in the palate, bam! The salty taste is like a cheeky lick of a dolphin or a freshly landed Arbroath Smokie. A tide of spice rolls in, definite cloves and mulled wine, but with a bite of pepper and a touch of basil. The spice slowly caramelises into burnt brown sugar and molasses paving the way for a fruity finish, almost zesty but with the sweetness of strawberries coming through behind. These milden on the tongue and the softer roots of celery and grass pop their heads up around the sweetness. As the taste fades you notice the chemical element which was always there, skulking among the flavours, but now it's an almost rubbery St John's Wort / TCP taste.

There's no doubt that this is a loooong finish, sweet while it remembers the strawberries but holding true to its past with lingering spice, a haunted coastal memory with a bitter end.

~£48 (70cl)

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

79 / 100