Springbank 15 year old single malt review

This 15 year old single malt comes from the Springbank distillery. Springbank has become one of my favorite distilleries. Especially their 12 year old single malts are great – check out reviews of batch 10 and batch 13.

It is a family-owned whisky distillery located in Kintyre Peninsula of Western Scotland. Owned by J & A Mitchell & Company who also owns Glengyle distillery, several blended Scotch brands and independent bottler called William Cadenheads.

Springbank is one of the few surviving single malt producers in Campbeltown region of Scotland. They are also the only Scottish distillery performing each step of the process of whisky making at their distillery. Even malting the barley. Paul John whisky distillery from India also malts its barley in house.

Springbank 15YO has been aged completely in ex-sherry casks – sweet Oloroso casks were used for this expression.

Craft distilling at its finest

The good track record of Springbank continues. This single malt is another example of fine craftsmanship by the Campbeltown based distillery.

With this distillery you can talk about craft whisky distilling, even though the annual capacity is quite big (750 000 liters). They do such a great job producing high quality single malt whisky. And they do each step on their own, relying mostly on non-automated methods. They even turn floor maltings by hand.

Matured in:

Ex-Oloroso Sherry casks

Colour: Dark amber

ABV: 46%

Non-chill filtered, no added colour

Nose: Starts with trail of smoke and tropical fruits, turns into caramel and toffee. After a little rest in the glass and drops of water, this dram gets bit dampy. And medicinal. Fruity notes are still there but with some maritime touch.

Taste: Hints of peat smoke with sweet and dry sherry. Nice notes of salty licorice stay in the background, while exotic fruits dominate. Mostly fresh green fruits and juicy tangerines, along with oak tannins and hints of spices. Drops of water bring out crispy citrus, vanilla and little bit of marzipan notes.

Finish: Lots of dryness. Warming spices and sweet sherry notes. Dried fruits stay with you quite long. Drops of water makes it even drier, and adds crispiness. Very late in the aftertaste, some licorice notes rise up.

Balance: Can’t compete with Springbank 12YO in complexity and quality but doesn’t trail far behind. Rich and characteristic dram in nice balance. And please, let it rest in the glass. This one needs time to evolve.