Springbank 14 Bourbon Wood Whisky Review!

An ex-bourbon only matured Springbank isn't a very common thing, since there are usually some sherry or wine casks involved in their whiskies, so this'll be interesting!

For quite some time, Campbeltown's Springbank Distillery has had a wide and eclectic range of whiskies that were either fully matured or finished in unusual or uncommon cask types. Known as the wood finish bottlings, they ranged from Rum and Calvados casks, to Gaja Barolo and Tokaji wine casks, with many more in between. They were very simply packaged with largely hand written-style brown labels, and a stamp-style descripton of the cask type stamped across the front label. Those varied and often much-loved bottlings are still being released, although seemingly not as often, but the presentation is now more in-line with Springbank's current packaging. So the off-white labels are gone, the hand written-fonts are gone, and the generic plain outer boxes are gone, replaced by more modern and more appealing designs, as you can see below. It's also worth noting that this new design is also now used for Springbank's single cask bottlings, albeit with a darker shade of blue.

But the contents are the main thing, which were always cask strength, with the month and year of both distillation and bottling printed on the bottle label, and hailing from Springbank Distillery of course means they were -and obviously still are- always non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. None of the above has changed with the move to the new packaging, which is great to see. Some of these releases were more limited than others, and some were more lusted after than others, but all offered something different. There were also releases of Longrow, Springbank's heavily-peated and double-distilled whisky, and Hazelburn, Springbank's un-peated and triple-distilled whisky, in this range, alongside the lightly-peated and 2.5-times distilled Springbank namesake whisky. I really can't wait to finally visit this very "old school" distillery later this year. To stand in those musty warehouses in Campbeltown and breathe it all in will be an almost... spiritual experience!

The bottling we're looking at today is Springbank 14-year old Bourbon Wood, which was fully matured in both first-fill and refill ex-bourbon casks. It was distilled in November 2002, and bottled in August 2017 at a cask strength of 55.8% ABV, with a yield of 9000 bottles. 14-year old Bourbon Wood retails for around $190 AUD and is still around at the time of writing (probably because there aren't any sherry casks involved), and while that's a bit of a step up from the more regular 12-year old Cask Strength bottlings, that's quite reasonable for a slightly older limited cask strength release in Australia. Since an ex-bourbon cask-matured Springbank is quite unusual, in fact the last time one was released was over 15 years ago, it'll be interesting to see how well Springbank's briny, musty "dirty" funky-ness gets along with the lighter and sweeter cask influences from the ex-bourbon casks. And since there are also some refill ex-bourbon casks involved, we may also get to see more of the actual spirit presence in this one. Let's find out...

Springbank 14-year old Bourbon Wood, 55.8%. Campbeltown, Scotland.
Distilled 11/2002, matured in first- and re-fill ex-bourbon casks, bottled 08/2017 at cask strength. 9000 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Gold.

Nose: Sweet & fresh with a light funk & minerality. There's loads of vanilla custard & marshmallows, and bright tropical fruit - banana, green papaya & melon, plus some lemon & a little apple. Lightly malty & dusty, and some muddy river rocks & icing sugar. With more time, a dry, herbal & floral honey and mixed peppercorns come out.

Texture: Medium weight, silky. Rich & sweet, then dry and funky. Plenty of character here, and no alcohol heat or roughness.

Taste: Sweet entry with more vanilla custard & marshmallow, then a lovely dry minerality with damp stone, dank dunnage warehouses and muddy hay. Crystallised ginger chunks, white pepper and more dry honey. A light hint of bitter & vegetal peat behind as well.

Finish: Medium length. The white pepper, ginger & dry honey carry through, then becomes a little sweeter again and the tropical fruit from the nose resurfaces. No banana this time though, and there's lemon juice alongside. Then vanilla butter icing / frosting and light brine, and a lightly bitter ginger to round things out.

Score: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Great stuff! As expected, it's a sweeter take on the typical Springbank single malt, the 12 year old cask strength for example, and perhaps there's more of the actual spirit character showing through thanks to there being less overt cask influence. It's definitely less "funky" than some Springbank bottlings, and there's a touch more minerality here, but it's still very much a characterful and complex whisky. I really enjoyed having that sweetness switching places with the dryness and minerality, and that trademark farmyard-style musty dirty-ness that Campbeltown is known (and loved) for. That kept things more interesting, and of course is a sign of a very well-made whisky. Having said that, this dram has definitely become more complex and less sweet as it oxidised, on initial opening it was considerably sweeter, and perhaps less interesting. But with the magic of time and a little air it's opened up beautifully, and the Springbank DNA is now much more evident. It was still tasty on first contact of course, but this is a seriously delicious dram as it sits now.

Surprisingly this 14-year old Springbank is still available from a few Australian retailers, and it's still very reasonably priced for what's on offer. I would've put that down to the bourbon cask-maturation not having the immediate "sexy-ness" of a sherry cask, but then the 17-year old Sherry Wood Springbank can also still be found within our shores, and that's a considerably earlier release (but is considerably more expensive). So I'm not sure what's going on there, but I can say that if you're a Campbeltown fan and you haven't tried this one, you're going to want to. Personally, I think I'll be needing a second bottle before this one is gone.

Cheers!