Scotch Whisky Review #151: Springbank 14 Year Amontillado Sherry

Distillery: Springbank

Region: Campbelltown

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/nsquare14!

Cask Type: Amontillado Sherry

Cask Number: 305

ABV: 55.4% Cask Strength

Age: 14 Year

Color: 1.4, Tawny. Non-Chill Filtered and Natural Color.

Nose: (according to the wife) It smells like sujeonggwa (수정과, a traditional Korean cinnamon punch), it’s cinnamon-y with hints of sweetness. There’s a bit of raisin along with some dark caramel. At first, there is an ethanol note but it clears out eventually.

Palate: This has a rather silky mouthfeel. It starts off with a really rich golden raisin and chocolate. That gives way to honey Cheerios before settling in on some dried figs. There’s a bit more ethanol here as well. With a bit of water, apple cider comes out and the ethanol goes away.

Finish: Medium in length. There’s more of the dried fig and a lot of fresh oak peppers.

Conclusion: It’s not every day that you see something fully matured in Amontillado sherry. Springbank have done a decent job here with this one. There’s a layers of dried fruit along with good amount of sweetness but the malt itself isn’t buried completely either. The ethanol is a bit strong though and it takes quite a bit to dissipate. While I really appreciate being able to get the full strength out of the cask, this one benefits a lot with being watered down. Overall, very good. Would I buy a bottle? If I could find one, yes.

Final Score: 80.

Scotch Whisky Review #151, Campbeltown Whisky Review #2, Whisky Network Review #201

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.