North Sea Whisky

I was quite disappointed with last year’s Springbank Vintage 1998, as it was defined by the blandness of modern sherry casks. It is usual to have drier and woodier aspects which can take more than an hour to lift off these old whiskies. In the case of the 1998, they never did, shading the distillate.

Old Springbank is often magical – the spirit is full of gunky goodness, which starts turning into complex tropical esters at around the age of 18. From their mid-20s, the good versions are as close as we’ll get to the best 60s distillates. All of us jump at the chance to taste them, in the hopes that the casks haven’t ruined the effect – we shall see.

The cask makeup for the 1994 vintage is 80% bourbon, 10% sherry and 10% red wine cask. Let’s hope for a no more than minor contribution from the latter.

Springbank Vintage 1994 (31 years old)

Rating: 91 points

Nose: Lovely golden colour, thick slow legs. The nose is soft and concentrated. There are green wood tannins above a malty, salted butter and tropical fruit core – that’s after half an hour, let’s give it more time.

It is clearly old Springbank, with juicy green and yellow mangoes, syrupy pineapples, passion fruit and blood orange, lemon and lime. There is an “old-Highland” tartness to the fruit. Waxy and peaty elements then catch the attention – menthol, moss, candlewax, mind fondant.

Palate:  Medium weight – it is getting up there in age – but nice and waxy. Super soft. Lands with the beautiful fruit cocktail and warm malt, so dry and pleasantly acidic. Dry mineral peat comes in at the mid-palate, brackish and twiggy. The development dries out further with menthol and ash. This leads to a surprisingly fresh and acidic finish of sour green fruit and the warm peppery kick of fusels. The finish isn’t the longest, but we finally get some signature Springbank soot as well, along with mossy bog water. Very nice.

The texture is excellent as it lands, being thick and waxy, but the coating sensation soon disappears.

Conclusion: This is really good, much better than last year’s vintage 1998. It has all the elements of old Springbank, especially the beautiful fruitiness. It just lacks that last bit of harmony, feeling a little bit “designed”, and after 31 years in cask the finish is starting to lose a little bit of power.

That really is splitting hairs though – this is delicious old Springbank. For more than £1000 a bottle we’re allowed to split hairs though.