Scotch Whisky Review #377: Signatory Vintage Springbank 26 Year (1969)

Distillery: Springbank.

Bottler: Signatory Vintage.

Region: Campbeltown.

Age: 26 Year. Distilled July 1969, Bottled August 1995.

ABV: 52.0%.

Price: Pour courtesy of /u/KissMeElon.

Color: 1.4, Tawny.

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Nose: It’s quite floral, more smelling like a floral perfume than a bouquet of flowers. I’m not sure what scents are specifically here, but floral perfume is the name of the game. It turns herbal after the perfume. It isn’t like a herb mix, it’s far more earthy and more closer to being medicinal. The image that comes up closest of oriental medicine extract / medicinal tea. Ssanghwa-tang (쌍화탕) would be close, with ginseng and the earthy notes overlapping with the herby notes.

Palate: It is super, super funky. There’s mushrooms and a funky wine (sherry? madeira?) note. There’s an almost creamy note as well, the combination coming out to taste a lot like a sherry cream shrimp pasta sauce I’ve made for the wife. There’s some fruity notes as well, largely in the form of apple. Vanilla creamsavers comes through along with some more of the oriental medicinal notes.

Finish: Medium in length. More of the funky mushroom notes and funky, wine-y cream. A bit of oriental medicine comes through as well.

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Conclusion: I’ve never had old Springbank, I’ve not had a lot of Springbank to begin with, so I had absolutely no idea what this would be like nor did I have any expectations going into it. It was one of the peculiar whiskies I’ve ever had. In the nose is a floral perfume followed by a strong herbal and earthiness that is reminiscent of oriental medicinal tea. The palate is super funky with mushrooms, wine, and cream along with a dash of fruit and more of the medicine. The finish is a culmination of all of it. /u/KissMeElon

had gotten this as part of the fire sale that accompanied the closure of the Dundee Dell, what used to be Omaha’s spiritual home for Scotch whisky. The bottle has probably been open for a few decades at this point and the fill level is low so it really hard to tell if this flavor profile is one that developed over time as it was open or if it came out something like this. Either way, it’s quite enjoyable and peculiar all the same.

Final Score: 82.

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Scotch Whisky Review #377, Campbeltown Review #8, Whisky Network Review #531

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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.