The second instalment of Springbank's modern Local Barley series, from back in early 2017. The one that almost got away from me!
Before the secondary pricing became stupid and before demand exploded through the roof in the last year or so, the Springbank Local Barley releases were only really appreciated in smaller circles. Those who knew, knew. And those who didn't, well they were missing out. Now of course almost everyone knows, and everyone is now competing for the same relatively small number of bottles as that smaller audience was. Unfortunately I suspect that's largely thanks to the dark colour of the 10-year old 2020/2021 release, the first & only bottling in the series to be 100% matured in sherry casks, which attracted a huge amount of attention and pulled the entire series (and perhaps even the distillery) into the spotlight behind it. It's also due to the pandemic-induced mayhem of course, and the ridiculous surge in demand for whisky & other luxury goods that it has caused. I've already moaned about this sorry state of affairs in the review of that controversial latest release in the series (linked above), so have a read there if you'd like to know more. For now though, we're going to rewind to the before-times, the brighter days when these releases and other Springbanks were still relatively affordable and easier to find, and to when more of them were opened & enjoyed rather than being flipped and traded amongst speculators & investors like they are now. Through no fault of the distillery, these are dark times for us Springbank lovers...
The modern Local Barley series - and when I say modern, we're excluding the legendary first series of unicorn 1960s vintage Local Barley bottlings - kicked off in 2016 with the absolutely epic 16-year old, followed by the 11-year old in 2017 that we're looking at here, then a 10-year old in late 2017 (reviewed here), then a 9-year old in 2018, and latterly two more 10-year old releases - the 2019 (reviewed here), and then the 2020/2021 sherry cask matured (reviewed here). Each release was distilled from barley grown in the Kintyre region and was matured in a different mix of casks, and all were bottled at cask strength. Of the six releases in the series that we've seen so far, the 11-year old was the only one that I hadn't tasted - until now! Of the five that I have tasted up until now the 16-year old is certainly the winner in my book. But really they're all winners, and you can't go wrong with any of them - at close to their original pricing at least. Are they worth the 400-800 pounds that they're (sadly) selling for at auction these days? Absolutely not. Not a chance in hell. For those of us playing in Australia, even the low end of that pricing spectrum at the UK auctions, which rather predictably is the delicious 9-year old bottling, the youngest release in the series, would roughly be a $750 AUD bottle landed here, after our customs agents & DHL have had their way with you. And that's utterly insane. Whoops, I'm moaning again!
This 2017 11-year old Local Barley is the only one in the series so far that has been fully matured in 100% ex-bourbon casks. And that's a good thing, since the gentler cask influence is likely to show off more of the local barley character - which should be the point of the entire series, after all! But that's not all folks. This 11-year old is also the only release in the series that was distilled from the ancient barley variety Bere. In fact to my knowledge this is the only Springbank general release (i.e. not a society / cage bottling etc.) that has been distilled from 100% Bere barley, at least in recent years. Which makes this rather special! By the way, the word Bere is pronounced as "bare" and not "beer", but it could well be one of the origins of the word "beer" in the English language. Islay's Bruichladdich partake in Bere barley whisky more often than any, even growing it on Islay on one occasion, although Arran have also dabbled in the past. Most of this ancient grain is grown on the cold, windswept Orkney Islands north of the Scottish mainland, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea. Hardly the first place that comes to mind when you think of that postcard-image of sunny fields of golden barley! The reason for that seemingly-mismatched location is largely traditional, since barley has been grown in the Orkney Islands since the invention of agriculture, well before the Vikings came ashore. But Bere barley has survived & thrived there because it is more hardy, being less sensitive to soil quality and weather conditions. With a helping hand from the Orkney farmers Bere has evolved more through natural selection over those millennia rather than being scientifically bred in laboratory conditions (or even genetically modified) in search of higher yields and better disease resistance like most modern barley varieties. But this is not just an older, more natural version of the popular modern barley varieties like Optic and Concerto that we're more familiar with. This is actually a six-row barley grain, something that is found more often in Indian single malts, and also in livestock feed, than it is in Scotch whisky. As the name implies, six-row barley has six grain kernels per row rather than two, which are arranged in a star-shaped pattern if you were looking at a cross-section of the barley stem. Along with differences in protein content and starch content, and also enzymes - all of which affects malting, milling, fermentation and yield - compared to two-row barley, the kernels in six-row barley are smaller in size, and in general give more of a nutty flavour in comparison with the sweeter, more honey-like flavour of the two-row varieties. That's probably down to a slightly higher protein content and lower starch content, and also the thicker husks on the grain itself - which I'd assume would also affect kilning. I'm guessing this stuff would be a real pain when the time comes to mill and mash it!
As you can guess from the name of this series of special Springbanks, the Bere barley used for this 11-year old Springbank didn't come from Orkney. It came from the Kintyre peninsula - Aros Farm to be exact, which is less than three miles from the distillery, and since there are no farms within "the wee 'toon" of Campbeltown itself you can't get much more local than that! This being a Springbank single malt of course means that the barley was lightly peated to roughly 15 ppm, and that it was 100% floor-malted on-site at the distillery, and that it has been distilled a sum total of 2.5-times through a complicated regimen where at the end of the process some of the spirit is only distilled twice, while some is distilled three times. And that process includes Springbank's direct-fired wash still and worm tub condenser-equipped second still / first spirit still. The ABV here is "only" 53.1% in this case, which is the lowest in the series so far, and that may have been due to that lower yield from the Bere barley, or it may just be natural variation. In terms of volume of liquid though this release wasn't any smaller than the others with 9,000 bottles released. This 11-year old was distilled in Feb 2006 and bottled in Feb 2017, without chill filtration and naturally coloured as with everything that Springbank Distillery releases. While there was plenty of interest when it hit the shelves, this second bottling in the series now suffers from a touch of middle child syndrome, possibly because it followed the epic 16-year old first release which did cast a very large shadow, or possibly because of the slightly lower ABV. But more likely it's because it was "only" matured in ex-bourbon casks, which for some wouldn't have been as appealing as the other bottlings. Personally though, that plus the Bere barley used means it'll be very different from the rest and should show plenty of barley character, which makes it even more exciting if you ask me! The sample for this review came from a generous friend over the water in New Zealand. Oh and just to annoy everyone, the original Australian retail pricing on this 11-year old, around 4.5-years ago admittedly, was $220-240 AUD. Compare that to the $400-500 Australian retail pricing of the recent 10-year old sherry bottling... OK, I'm doing it again. No more moaning!
Distilled from 100% Bere barley, grown in Campbeltown region. Distilled Feb 2006, fully matured in 100% ex-bourbon casks, bottled Feb 2017. Second release in the LB series. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 9,000 bottles.
Colour: Pale gold.
Nose: Lovely. Loads of waxy / unwashed lemon wedges, rich egg custard that is hardly sweetened but with a touch of vanilla. Dusty hay and a touch of spearmint. Sea spray and dried grapefruit around the edges. Dried herbs with a slight earthy peat smoke. More time adds sugared almonds.
Texture: Medium weight, oily & creamy. A little dirtier than the nose suggested. Slight heat but very pleasant.
Taste: Creamy egg custard again, but no vanilla this time, and again barely sweetened. Soft earthy peat behind it. Touch of dirty engine oil, sharp lemon which builds as the peat recedes. Touch of sweetened grapefruit and grassy malt, then those sugared almonds again with a good pinch of sea salt.
Finish: Medium-long length. Touch of spirit-y heat, turning into white pepper when that creaminess comes through again. Then the lemon wedges, almost salted lemons now, touches of clove spice & petrol. Surprising creamy milk chocolate note in the background as it winds up.
Score: 4 out of 5.
Notes: Lovely stuff. Predictably I'd say the other releases are all more "typically Springbank", while this is cleaner and more conventional, for lack of a better word. But this 11-year old is a lovely oily, creamy, lemony dram and it still has that coastal, old school Campbeltown character that we all love. Albeit without as much of the dirt, the funk, and the dunnage warehouse dankness. It's hard to pinpoint the Bere barley difference of course, that could be where those almond notes are coming from, although that could be coming from the oak. But it does also seem drier than your typical ex-bourbon Springbank. Regardless of the reasons it's certainly different to the other Local Barley releases as you'd expect, but make no mistake, there's no shortage of character or flavour here! And if it wasn't different, what would be the point!
The 11-year old certainly deserves its place in the LB line-up, and it's great to see something different in the mix - variety is the spice of life. And the quality is right up there with the rest of 'em. Let's hope we see more 100% bourbon cask releases in the series since it has now been extended indefinitely. And let's hope that plenty of the recent bandwagon-jumpers turn their noses up at them in favour of darker colours, so we can keep enjoying them!
Cheers!
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