Springbank 12 Cask Strength Batch 1 Whisky Review!

A blast from the past that I've never tried before! Batch One of the excellent Springbank 12-year old Cask Strength, bottled way back in 2010. They're currently up to Batch twenty-five!

This older Springbank is from the days when the 12-year old Cask Strength and all Springbank was much easier to get your hands on in Australia, which was the case right up until 2020 or so when all things J&A Mitchell went insane. Surely that was the worst thing to happen to humanity that year, right? The entire Springbank core range, the local barley releases, and the limited release cask finishes all lasted much longer than they do these days, and a lot of Hazelburn and Longrow releases barely sold at all. Nowadays even the standard core range rarely makes it to shelves at all, whether those shelves be physical or digital. The distillery are doing everything they can to help with availability during this insane spike in demand, and their pricing has barely shifted at all despite the huge increase in sales and the many retailers and importers that are price gouging on anything Springbank. Unfortunately for those of us who remember the before times - I'm going to get "I was into Springbank before it was cool" t-shirts printed - the 12-year old Cask Strength seems to be the worst hit by this massive surge in popularity. Ignoring the Local Barley releases, at least, although they seem to have calmed down a bit now. If you ask me the "12 CS" was always the sweet spot for an excellent Springbank at a very reasonable price - commonly selling under $140 AUD back then, when the "entry level" 10-year old was around $90-100. Unfortunately it now retails for $250 or more, if you can even get your hands on it at all, and our importer does not receive stock of every batch released. But considering that the entry level 10-year old Springbank is now retailing for a ridiculous $200 AUD, that's still not such a raw deal. Obviously availability is more of a hurdle than pricing in this case, unless you're insane enough to entertain the price-gouging "retailers" who are attempting to get over $400 for one of these bottles. The importer should not be entertaining them by selling them stock. 

Just to clarify, this Batch 1 Springbank 12-year old was not the first cask strength Springbank official bottling, far from it. Nor was it the first 12-year old official bottling, there have been quite a few including some at 46% and some at 57% (100 Proof). Obviously those earlier bottlings are now the stuff of collectors, and even these earlier batches of the 12 Cask Strength go for ridiculous money on the auction sites, often over £300 plus fees & shipping. Which after shipping to Australia and being reamed by the customs department, you'd probably be looking at around $900-1,000 AUD. Absolutely mental. Back in these early batches the 12-year old Cask Strength was 100% sherry cask matured in both first-fill and refill Oloroso sherry casks. This was the case until 2015's Batch 10 when ex-bourbon casks were added, initially in a proportion of 30%, which then changed to 50% in late 2018 which Batch 18. The cask make-up has continued to fluctuate since then - including a fantastic 100% ex-bourbon cask Batch 23 (reviewed here), with one instalment even having some red wine & port casks in the mix with Batch 21 (reviewed here). The 12 Cask Strength has never had a batch code printed on the label, so the laser-printed bottling date on the bottle and the ABV are your only guides as to which batch you're actually looking at. You then take that info to google and/or whiskybase.com, and you'll get your answer. J&A Mitchell have now made the same change to sister distillery Glengyle's Kilkerran Heavily Peated range, which from Batch Ten onwards will no longer have a batch code printed on the label. With the Springbank 12-year old there was one major change back in 2014, when the labels were modernised slightly from the old black label with red 'S' as pictured below, to a solid red label with white 'S' inside a red circle. So if you're looking at a black label Springbank 12-year old it's Batch 13 (released early 2014) or earlier, and if it's the (slightly) more modern red label it's Batch 14 (released late 2014) or later. 

This very first batch, released over 14 years ago now, has always been on my wishlist. Batch One of Springbank 12 Cask Strength, released in March 2010 with an outturn of 6,000 bottles at a cask strength of 54.6% ABV. Obviously it's natural colour and non-chill filtered, as with all single malts bottled by J&A Mitchell. Batch 1 was a vatting of 60% first-fill sherry hogsheads (250-litre casks) and 40% refill sherry butts (500-litre casks). As you can see from the colour though, those first-fill casks can't have been particularly active, which is definitely a good thing! This mix of first-fill ("fresh" in Springbank-ese) to refill sherry casks stayed constant until that introduction of ex-bourbon casks with Batch 10. The actual bottlings still varied a great deal of course, as has always been the way at Springbank. Consistency isn't a goal here, and nor should it be! Both character and quality do vary in these fantastically old school whiskies, which just keeps things interesting for us geeks. Speaking of which, the sample for this review came from a very generous fellow whisky nerd over the water in New Zealand who has shared some extremely special samples with me over the years. While I do try to return the favour, I still can't thank her enough when it comes to drams like this. Let's get to it!

Springbank 12 Cask Strength Batch 1, 54.6%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Bottled March 2010. 60% first-fill sherry hogsheads, 40% refill sherry butts. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 6,000 bottles. 

Colour: Pale copper. 

Nose: Yep, it's proper Springbank! Salty, rich, fruity, quite savoury. A little softer than I expected, but then it's been a long time since I last tasted one of the 100% sherry batches. Ripe red apples with a little dust, dark & thick caramel fudge sauce. Sea salt flakes, apricot jam, a little fresh white peach. Lime juice. Old oily rags & sooty fireplaces, greasy old metal, damp dunnage warehouses with gravel, packed earth, and dusty old wood. Salted nuts & aniseed around the edges. 

Texture: Heavy weight. Chewy & thick, rich & savoury. No heat at all. 

Taste: Chewy & thick caramel fudge sauce, heavily salted caramel this time. Touch of that apricot jam, and it's on some buttered burnt toast now. Damp malted barley around the edges. Sooty fireplaces & dirty old rags. The red apples are stewed now, with some currants and baking spices mixed in. Dried bitter orange peel. Sooty & oily peat smoke with that damp & musty dunnage warehouse "funk". 

Finish: Long length. Big sea salt, stone fruit, spiced butter caramel chocolates. Dirty old diesel fuel, oily & sooty. More bitter orange peel and more sea salt, slightly drying. Dirty, dusty, musty. Lime juice, salted caramel, and dusty red apples to finish. 

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Just delicious. I'd almost hoped that it wouldn't be. This 12yo ticks all of the Springbank boxes that you could wish for, without focussing on any one area in particular. That said, aside from that salted caramel fudge sauce this is quite a savoury dram, with more sea salt & peat smoke than I remember finding in any recent batch of the 12-year old Cask Strength. Arguably less cask influence than most of those, too. Which is certainly no complaint. You do have to work hard to find a batch of the '12CS' that isn't a good dram, but some are merely good, while some are great, and some are excellent. And this, the very first batch, is one of those. As usual, tasting something like this is sadly a little bittersweet! 

The modern Springbanks, Hazelburns, Longrows, and Kilkerrans can be just as good though. The magic of Springbank, and the magic of Campbeltown, is certainly real. The big question is, are these older bottles worth hunting down at auction and paying exorbitant amounts for? It's a tough call. I just wish I'd had the foresight and the cashflow to buy more of it back in the "before times"...

Cheers!

Glen Garioch 1999 Vintage Sherry Cask Whisky Review!

13-years old, fully matured in Oloroso sherry casks, and bottled at cask strength. That's a solid spec sheet, but as much as I'm a fan of Glen Garioch in general, experiences with this distillery may (will) vary... Let's see how this one goes!

Beam Suntory's Glen Garioch (pronounced "Glen-geery") Distillery has been getting more attention than usual lately, although the usual level of attention is precisely zero attention. It does seem like the Japanese corporate owners have glanced in the distillery's direction in Old Meldrum in Aberdeenshire near the east coast, and remembered that they owned the place. After they purchased Glen Garioch from Morrison Bowmore Distillers in 1994, along with Bowmore and Auchentoshan, they soon closed the site down and wasted no time in changing the distillery's direction towards production of blend filler, mainly supplying the company's blended whisky brands. Glen Garioch's three pot stills were then converted from direct-fired heating to indirect steam coil heating. Next they decommissioned the distillery's floor maltings, switching to 100% externally-sourced commercial malted barley, which since the distillery re-opened in 1997 has been entirely unpeated. In mid-2021 though Beam Suntory seemed to have a change of heart, announcing that they were investing over 6-million pounds in the distillery. There seems to be renewed emphasis on Glen Garioch as a single malt brand, geared towards spirit quality and flavour rather than production volumes and efficiency. In the 18-months or so since that surprising announcement, not only have they reinstated the distillery's floor maltings, joining the likes of Islay's Laphroaig & Bowmore in the Beam Suntory portfolio of floor malting, but they also installed a direct-fired wash still! This may seem like a minor change, but it's actually quite significant and is all about getting more flavour & character into the spirit. Among other changes direct-firing means more heat at the base of the still and more temperature variance in different parts of the still, creating what's known as a maillard reaction, giving toasted and/or slightly burnt flavours in the wash. These flavour differences are more pronounced in the first (wash) distillation rather than the second (spirit) distillation, so as with Springbank and a few other distilleries the spirit still/s retain indirect heating via steam coils. Obviously we won't see the results of the new processes for a few years yet, but it's still rather exciting, and certainly a bit of a surprise. 

Official bottlings of Glen Garioch are a very rare sight on Australian shores. Beam Suntory's distribution arrangement with Coca Cola Amatil (CCA) means that we're basically starved of anything outside of the box, including Laphroaig's 10-year old Cask Strength and Cairdeas releases, anything decent from Bowmore, and basically no Glen Garioch whatsoever. The local operation only seems interested in moving huge volumes of entry-level Jim Beam bourbon (at 37.0% ABV no less) and pre-mix / RTD cans of bourbon & cola, while occasionally raking in the profits with overpriced and overhyped Japanese products. Australia's growing whisky scene and the masses single malt fans are seemingly ignored under this arrangement, to the frustration of many including some of the company's local employees. But now Beam Suntory's distribution arrangement with CCA is coming to an end in June 2025, when the Japanese giant will take over all local production and distribution themselves, branded as Suntory Oceania. It remains to be seen whether this major change will improve the local situation with their portfolio of single malts, but we can only hope! For the moment, if any of the higher strength official bottlings of Glen Garioch do make it here it's generally by way of parallel import where a retailer bypasses the official local importer and brings the stock into the country themselves. This parallel importing also happens with the likes of Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength and Cairdeas and any decent Bowmores (i.e. not the core range bottlings), but since Glen Garioch is far less known and far less popular in comparison the retail pricing tends to be lower than those. 

In the case of this particular Glen Garioch, said retailer was able to sell it for $160 AUD, which is very reasonable for a cask strength sherry cask official bottling from any distillery, particularly one aged in the teens. The line-up of official Glen Gariochs is a little convoluted, but essentially the NAS Founder's Choice is the entry-level single malt, followed by the 12-year old flagship bottling. These are both bottled at 48% ABV and are non-chill filtered, but as is Beam Suntory's standard operational procedure for their single malts, both are artificially coloured. From there we go to the Renaissance series which tend to be red wine cask influenced, and then to a number of Vintage releases that seem to be sporadic, including this one. This 1999 Vintage release is from Batch 30, and was bottled back in 2013 - it only arrived at said Australian retailer in early 2023 though, so wherever it originally came from it clearly didn't sell very well. These Vintage releases tend to be either sherry cask matured or bourbon cask matured, in this case fully matured in Oloroso sherry casks - presumably both first-fill and refill, since that's not specified. Supposedly it's a small batch bottling, but we don't know how many bottles were in said small batch. As mentioned above Glen Garioch's flavour profile can vary quite dramatically, in general it's quite a thick, full-bodied whisky, but there can be sulphur issues when sherry or wine casks are involved, and often some spirit heat as well. In my experience the standard 12-year old is the most dependable in the line-up of official bottlings, but some independents can be rather tasty. This one will of course be a sherry bomb and it's cask strength, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes. No time like the present!

Glen Garioch 1999 Vintage, Batch 30, bottled 2013. 56.3%. Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Distilled 1999, fully matured in Oloroso sherry casks (presumably first-fill and refill), bottled 2013. Non-chill filtered, colouring unknown (possibly e150). 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Still a little raw & nippy, and this bottle has been open for a long time! Christmas pudding, treacle toffee, roasted walnuts, black cherries, and a bit of rubber. Some marzipan and vanilla fudge around the edges. Plum jam & dried orange, crystallised ginger, and a touch of black coffee. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, well sherried, but a little flat too. Still quite hot & rough. 

Taste: More walnuts, black cherries, and crystallised ginger. That rough & spiky spirit heat is annoying. Getting past that there's some sticky date pudding with dark & thick toffee sauce, dried orange, and vanilla fudge. Turns astringent (drying) once that heat has subsided, red chilli flakes. 

Finish: Short-medium length. Still astringent & rough. Dried fruit, Christmas cake spices, marzipan, and vanilla fudge again. Maybe a slight touch of the rubber note from the nose, but it's better hidden. 

Score: 2.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Once you get past that annoying & distracting heat - that spiky roughness that could only come from an off batch or batches of spirit - it's an enjoyable "sherry bomb" of a Glen Garioch with plenty of cask influence. Or rather, if you can get past that heat. Even 13-years in active sherry casks couldn't overcome it. I've had significantly younger whiskies at much higher strengths that didn't have this problem. Still, sherry cask fans will like this one, at least with a dose of water added - but don't expect that to fix it completely. Some of these youngish sherry cask-driven whiskies are often like this; Tamdhu Batch Strength, some more recent batches of Aberlour A'Bunadh, and some of the older batches of Glendronach's NAS Cask Strength come to mind. Sherry cask influence yes, enjoyable flavour yes, and reasonable pricing yes - but not you anymore Aberlour, sit down. But hot & rushed spirit, also yes. Sometimes water makes that go away, sometimes it helps, and sometimes it doesn't. Which is a shame. I've had significantly better Glen Gariochs! Let's hope the new production regimen at the distillery - and the slower distillation that comes with that direct fired still - helps to stop these variations in spirit quality. 

Cheers!