Cask finishes | Whisky Lady

While I was off jaunting around North America and UAE, my fellow Mumbaikers were exploring whiskies… This is a guest post by Nikkhil Shirodkar, a member of our original Mumbai whisky club.

Pour 2: Springbank 12 years Burgundy Cask Finish 53.5%

Nose: Immediately medicinal, iodine but in a gentle way. Soft peat with an underlay of honey and stewed fruits. Some ash and liquorice notes now replace the medicinal ones. Some raisins and red fruits. It was an interesting nose and evidently non-islay.
Palate: Vanilla, gentle peat, sweet lime. The development was not in tandem with the nose. We felt it was rather thin in its mouthfeel. A little musty with damp wood notes. Some chocolate and tannic notes.
Finish: Medium and fades with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Water: With water it becomes sweet with caramel, pineapple and roasted pine nut notes.

Reveal: The host decided to reveal the 2nd & 3rd bottle together. But he did confirm that it was a non-islay whisky… So check out the next post on the Springbank 12 year for further observations comparing the two expressions.

— Guest Post by Nikkhil Shirodkar

Official notes:

Nose: Bold and rich with mineral and dunnage warehouse notes combining with maple syrup, pancetta, cranberry and red currants.
Palate: A soft velvet like texture with buttered brown toast and chocolate shortbread complementing light herb & oak notes.
Finish: A medium dry finish gives up liquorice and mint accompanied woody tannins.

Springbank whiskies are from Campbeltown, established in 1828 and remains family owned – now on its 5th generation. The distillery produces whiskies under three brands – Springbank (lightly peated), Longrow (heavily peated) and Hazelburn (unpeated). It also boasts adherence to traditions and proudly and stubbornly keeping every step of the process in-house and on-site.

This whisky was sampled blind, opened in September 2017 in Mumbai for this tasting. It is a limited edition introduced in June 2016 and not readily available, however on its release was retailed for around £60. As the name states, after initial maturation, it was finished in fresh ex-Burgundy casks.

PS – Believe it or not, Springbank 10 year and 18 year are available in India! Check out The Vault Fine Spirits.

Whiskies sampled in September 2017 by our original club included: