Springbank 21 Year Old / 2012 Edition

So this is the brand new one and I’m not even 100% sure about the ABV. It seems it’s from a combination of sherry and bourbon casks. I have no picture yet so I just put a portrait of a famous Scotsman instead ;-).

Colour: light amber.

Nose: at first sniffing, it’s kind of rougher and much less polished than the old one, with a sherry that’s more vinous and more at the front. That suggests that the sherry proportions are high. Underneath that sherriness, Springbank’s ‘modern’ profile, with whiffs of farmyard, paraffin, motor oil, brine, ashes, putty and just touches of ginger tonic. After a few minutes, more bacon and balsamic vinegar as well as notes of old books, a faint mustiness (not unpleasant at all) and then more and more menthol. A long development for sure, which is always great news. 

Mouth: starts rich, nervous, sherried and slightly gingery. Again, it’s a rather vinous sherriness, with blackcurrants (both fruits and leaves/buds) and then fairly grassy notes. The smokiness is quite big as well, and so are the farmy notes. And leather, liquorice stick, cinnamon, ginger…

Finish: medium long, grassy and leathery. The blackcurrant leaves (or rather the tea made thereof) are back in the aftertaste.

Comments: a rather wild one, maybe for your hipflask rather than for your lounge. Some kind of statement? SGP:462 - 89 points.