Scotch Whisky Review #331: Whiskykanzler Springbank 13 Year Fresh Rum Cask (1999)

Distillery: Springbank.

Bottler: Whiskykanzler.

Region: Campbeltown.

Age: 14. Distilled on October 8th, 1999 and bottled on May 22nd, 2013.

ABV: 57.1%.

Cask Type: “Fresh Rum” cask.

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/DangerousDoorknob

Color: 0.3, Pale Gold.

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Nose: It has a quite strong cooling effect. Mint and shiso along with star anise are the aromatic notes that come through. A creamy passionfruit mousse gives a fruity element to this.

Palate: It’s pretty much undrinkable at full strength. It’s so hot and unpleasant. With water, it does become drinkable thankfully. That creamy passionfruit mousse note comes through again with a bit of banana. Some funk also comes through as well.

Finish: Medium to long in length. A bit of something dry and fruity like white wine. Funky and peaty.

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Conclusion: Bottled for Whiskykanzler in Germany, this Springbank is from a “fresh rum” cask. The rum influence does comes through in some passionfruit in the nose and palate but otherwise this release feels a disjointed. The nose has an interesting cooling effect with a bunch of mint and shiso notes. There’s a bit of fruit in the palate along with some funk. That funk continues into the finish and does linger for a bit. Perhaps I needed to toy with the water levels some more given how strong it was or perhaps my palate was a touch off, but overall this felt disjointed and like this just never quite got started for some reason or another.

Final Score: 77.

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Scotch Whisky Review #331, Campbeltown Review #7, Whisky Network Review #476

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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.