Springbank Local Barley 10 Year Old (2019) Whisky Review!

The final release in the contemporary crop of Local Barley Springbanks from Campbeltown's finest, and the second 10-year old in the series - just to confuse things!

In typical Springbank fashion, rather than breaking the mould for this fifth & final release in the Local Barley series and giving us something crazy, they've given us a whisky that follows the theme of those that came before it. But that's no bad thing, since it's already a winning formula! This series of Local Barley Springbanks have followed a similar recipe - lightly peated locally-grown barley, mostly matured in a mix of ex-bourbon & ex-sherry casks, and all bottled at cask strength. But in reality they've all been very different, and each has had its strengths, without any obvious major weaknesses. Things kicked off back in 2016 with the already-legendary 16-year old, followed by an 11-year old in early 2017 and the first 10-year old in late 2017 (reviewed here), and the excellent 9-year old in 2018, before the second 10-year old finally hit in late 2019 after a substantial gap between releases. The aforementioned 11-year old was actually the outlier in the entire line-up since it was distilled from the ancient Bere variety of barley and was matured only in ex-bourbon casks, while the other releases have used more contemporary barley strains and have been a mix of 70-80% ex-bourbon and 20-30% ex-sherry, although this newer 10-year old seems to have had one port cask also thrown into the vat, which seems a bit of an odd choice! They've used a few different strains of barley for these releases, all locally-grown in the Campbeltown area / Kintyre Peninsula, and all 100% floor-malted at the distillery of course. I'm yet to taste the 11-year old release or this second 10-year old release at the time of writing, but so far for me the 16-year old and 9-year old are leading the pack, although both were very different from each other, and none of these whiskies have been anything close to disappointing.

All of the younger releases in the series seemed to be berated initially by those vocal & spoiled European Springbank fans who only seemed to want older whiskies - not giving any thought to the fact that this would almost defeat the purpose, since the younger whiskies have a far better chance of showing off the differences in that carefully selected & cultivated locally-grown barley. Personally, I would've loved to see an 8-year old! But Springbank have never bowed to such pressure anyway, they work to their own schedule and won't be rushed - to paraphrase Gandalf: they're never late to release a whisky, they release it precisely when they mean to! The whisky is ready when it's ready, and they release it when they're ready to release it, and that's a big part of their charm - this is a properly 'old school' distillery! This privately owned distillery is still the only malt whisky distillery in Scotland to carry out 100% of the production process on site for all of their single malts, from floor-malting 100% of their barley requirements, as well as that of neighbouring Glengyle Distillery (producing Kilkerran single malt), to milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, maturing and bottling. The only slight gap in the ranks, although it's not really fair to call it a gap at all, is the growing of the barley itself. But these local barley releases fill that admittedly tiny hole very nicely, using only one strain of barley, produced at a single local farm, for each release. Campbeltown whiskies tend to be the domain of the whisky geek, and these Local Barley Springbanks are the geekiest of the lot. Stealing a tag line from Bruichladdich then, where they refer to certain Octomore Islay barley bottlings as "The Octomore of Octomore", these Local Barley bottlings would have to be 'The Springbanks of Springbank'!

This second 10-year old, the final instalment in this series of Local Barley bottlings was distilled in July 2009 from Optic barley grown at High Cattadale Farm, situated in Southend, right at the southern end of the Mull of Kintyre. After being floor-malted and lightly peated (to around 12-15 ppm) at the distillery it was filled into a mix casks consisting of 77% ex-bourbon, 20% ex-sherry, and 3% ex-port. 9,000 bottles were released in October 2019 at a cask strength of 56.2%, which is also the easiest way to tell the two different 10-year olds apart, since they look almost identical until you read the fine print: the first was bottled at 57.3%. As is the case with everything that Springbank put out, there's no chill filtration or added colouring to be found here. While this is the fifth & final release in this batch of Springbank Local Barley bottlings, this wasn't the first batch, and I'm sure it won't be the last. As usual this bottling took around six months to arrive in Australia - finally turning up in March 2020, and it did sell out very quickly. The sample for this review came from a very generous reader & whisky geek named Julie, who is based across the Tasman in New Zealand where they enjoy a far better Springbank offering than we do in Australia - both price-wise, range-wise and pace-wise. But, as is the case with almost everything that Springbank put out, I'm sure this one will have been worth the wait. Time to find out!

Springbank Local Barley 10-year old (2019), 56.2%. Campbeltown, Scotland.
Distilled 7/2009 from Optic barley, lightly peated. Matured in 77% ex-bourbon, 20% ex-sherry and 3% ex-port casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 9,000 bottles.

Colour: Gold.

Nose: Dry, dusty barley, lemon zest & orange pith, and a touch of icing sugar. Hay, smoked cream cheese and wood ash. A big pinch of fresh rock salt, vanilla, a little fresh chopped chilli and some yeasty bread dough - maybe sourdough? Yes, sourdough.

Texture: Heavy weight, rich & very oily. Huge texture! A little dab of heat but it's well hidden.

Taste: Dry, oily and spicy. Good quality olive oil, dried tropical fruit, lemon zest and black pepper. Chilli flakes, dry grassy malt, and a little astringent and acidic salt & white pepper that moves into ashy, spicy smoke. Vanilla and smoked cream cheese again too.

Finish: Long length. Dry, astringent, ashy spiciness with a big pinch of rock salt. Smoked cheddar cheese this time, some vanilla sugar and earthy, dry peat. Dried lemon slices in brine, white pepper, and an acidic white wine-like dried tropical fruit before finishing with dry, hay-like barley husks.

Score: 4 out of 5.

Notes: What a fascinating dram! Very complex, very challenging, and very tasty. This is not a whisky for a novice or a Campbeltown newcomer, and it's not one to rush through either - this dram needs time, and it demands attention. That big oily texture, that grassy & spicy dryness and astringency, and those cheesy (lactic) notes are really fascinating. This is a different whisky to the previous 10-year old Local Barley, of course, it's more austere and more challenging, but also somehow more mellow & more mature. This really shows just how crazy Springbank can get, without needing any exotic cask types or overt cask influence. This Local Barley bottling oozes character, depth and complexity, and it doesn't hold itself back - you'll either love it or hate it, I'm guessing. A fitting end to the series, then, if it actually is the end of the series!

Speaking of which, while I haven't tried the 11-year old Bere barley release yet, of the remaining four contemporary Local Barley Springbanks I'd have to rank them as follows: The 16-year old, the 9-year old, and this 10-year old, followed by the earlier 10-year old bringing up the rear. But really, you can't go wrong with any of these!

Cheers!