Springbank 12yo (40%, Eaglesome Campbeltown Commemoration, b. ca. 1985): as said in a previous post, it is unclear whether this is a single or a blended malt: it reads "vatted malt," but why vat different distillates, when the distillery was active and perfectly able to produce a single? It was a period of slow activity for Springbank, yet there are other 1985 around. And this was bottled in 1985, which, if a single, suggests an early-1970s distillation; that definitely exists, and did not require a vatting. Anyway. Nose: at first, it is waxy apples and encaustic, then, with breathing, more furniture polish comes out, then ink and engine oil. Most peculiarly, swirling it in the glass makes the ink/engine oil combination become more prominent; letting it sit still for a few seconds allows the orchard fruits and the furniture polish to speak loudest. There are also notes of plastic lunch box, linseed oil and fish scales. This is nice and complex alright! Mouth: oily, earthy, it has honey-glazed nuts, teak oil and ground Brazil nuts, as well as forest floor, after a drizzle, a dash of lemon juice and a spoonful of lemon marmalade. Finish: an unexpected touch of syrupy wine (Port? Sherry? Madeira?), dark-chocolate coulis, and even a lick of smoke. Lemon marmalade on a slightly-overdone toast. Once again, a great Campbeltown Commemoration offering. 8/10
Campbeltown 12yo (40%, Eaglesome Campbeltown Commemoration, b. ca. 1985): nose: this one is full of ink and stained blotting paper. Plastic buckets left in the desert sun for years, dry fishing nets, fresh laundry on a sandy beach. A minute in, it has cedar-wood sheets (the kind one uses to light a cigar) and dry hay. Even brine and pencil eraser appear, after a while. Mouth: it is a jig of wine-y and cereal-y notes, augmented with exhaust fumes to spic it up. On one hand we have Burgundy wine, refined and earthy, on the other, pot ale and iron tonic, all enveloped in diesel-engine fumes, gunpowder, and caramelised, squashed apricot. Finish: all the flavours from before come back with a vengeance. Fancy red wine, earth, cereals, exhaust fumes, apricot compote, dry fishing nets, hot sand, tobacco leaves, squid ink and blotting paper. Remarkable. 8/10
Glentauchers 27yo 1990/2018 (54.4%, Cadenhead Single Cask, Bourbon Barrel, 168b): nose: clover honey, plum compote, milky swede purée, fruity sweets (pear drops and pineapple cubes), then cereals grow in volume (toasted bagel), joined by old rags, cardboard and blotting paper again. Warm wine completes the picture -- usually a bad idea, but it works, in this instance. Mouth: softer than expected (we just had a 14% ABV increase, remember), it has apple compote, floury potato purée, and even cabbage water -- the whole laid to dry on blotting paper. Is this a blotting-paper sort of day? The palate is distinctly cereal-y and, well, very good. Finish: it retains all of the above, very fleetingly; what does appear durably, however, is incense. Incense, sandalwood, mouse droppings (I kid you not), a drop of Sherry wine and soft, pink, scented pencil eraser. Nice. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, SW) |
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