We'll taste tonight 2 of 3 Campbelltown working distilleries: Springbank and Glengyle.
Longrow Peated 46% - not so many of releases in Longrow current portfolio, 18 yo is great, this one I will be tasting for the first time (shame on me).
Nose: elegant and fresh, peat and barley, oily fish, salt, it doesn't smell young by the way, quite excellent.
Taste: oily and peppery, then it gets drier, some bitter citrus peels, touch of salt and earth.
Finish: long one, waves of citrus, peat, earth, oak and pepper.
Overall: great value for money, the best malt for under EUR 50 I've met this year.
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
Kilkerran 8 yo 55.7% - matured in bourbon cask, 9000 bottles released.
Nose: a bit more restrained comparing to Longrow, after 5 min you get salt, citrus and non-Islay peat.
Taste: burst of licorice and pepper, minerals and salt.
Finish: long, salty, hints of vanilla and oak.
Overall: also very good, though I liked Longrow nose notch better.
Score = 21 22.5 21.5 22, 87/100!
Longrow 11 yo Red Cabernet Franc 55.9% - 9 years in bourbon and 2 years in Cabernet Franc cask, 9000 bottles released.
Nose: powerful, smoky, plenty of red berries, whiffs of salt and leather.
Taste: oily and peppery spirit background with red berries and licorice on top.
Finish: medium-long, smoky and peppery background with sweetish berry hints.
Overall: well, not bad at all, but I felt it's not so well integrated. Here we've got Longrow spirit basis, there we have wine and berries and these 2 parts are sewn together in haste, perhaps 2 years in a wine cask wasn't enough.
Score = 21.5 22 21.5 21, 86/100!
Springbank 12 yo Batch #16 56.3% - 70% sherry / 30% bourbon casks in this batch.
Nose: nervous start on traffic fumes, burnt rubber, notes of cheese and meat (I've met it in some previous batches too by the way), then it settles down and sweet fruits (mango) appear.
Taste: sharp and burning, after a few days in opened bottle it gets better, but no that much.
Finish: medium-long, salted cheese and sweet caramel.
Overall: well, initially I didn't like this one because of burning body and humble nose. It did improve after a few weeks, though previous batches I still like much more. Initial score was 83/100, after oxidation I'd go for 86/100. Though usually you want more from Springbank.
Score = 21.5 21.5 21.5 21.5, 86/100!
Springbank 18 yo 46% - this one was bottled in 2017, 60% sherry and 40 % bourbon casks in a batch.
Nose: fresh grapes, sea salt, green apples, lightest whiffs of wood smoke.
Taste: quite spicy, salty and oily. Easy to drink.
Finish: long one on salt, fruits and spicy oak.
Overall: good malt which is on par for me with standard Springbank 10 yo.
Score = 22 21 22 22, 87/100!
Springbank 10 yo 2007/2017 Local Barley 57.3% - 70% bourbon and 30% sherry casks in a batch (which is the opposite to 12 yo CS batch #16), 9000 bottles released.
Nose: starts on green fruits, oranges, honey, some chalk and salt, even wax is there making us to recall recent Clynelish tasting.
Taste: vanilla sweetness + malted barley + oranges with hints of salt and smoke.
Finish: medium-long, lots of lemons, sugar, salt and peat, pretty good.
Overall: nice CS Springbank with accent on bourbon maturation and that's great.
Score = 22 22 22 22, 88/100!
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