Bottled for Haromex Development GMBH Brüggen, Germany

Tasting Notes from Maltfascination.com (by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer): 94/100

Sniff:
Not surprisingly, this is very gentle, with only 43% ABV and almost four decades in mellowing oak. There are hints of dark bread, old apples. Some slate, sand and basalt. A minor note of smoke comes by too. Even though it’s gentle, there is some intensity with a whiff of engine grease and quite a lot of fruit. Apple, pear, grapes, passion fruit, peaches and some nectarine.

Sip:
The palate shows more intensity of flavor than I’d dare hope initially. It’s old and low in ABV after all. A small note of Springbank funkiness with dried fruits. Apple, pear, passion fruit and a more crisp note too. Maybe some star fruit. Quite a good helping of oak, to no one’s surprise.

Swallow:
A long and big finish. It combines the nose and the palate into a well rounded whole. Oak, funk and fruit, with barley and old wood.

Without a doubt, this is the best of my open bottles. There is so much to discover here, that I find it hard to fault it at any point. And by ‘fault it’ I mean finding a reason to not simply give this 96 points or so. Of course, I’m slightly biased.

But, still, this is an epic whisky. It does everything I want from a Springbank, and the lower ABV works very well in combination with the great age. It results in a whisky that asks for attention but doesn’t demand it, so if you have it at a festival, it might get swamped. Sitting down with, and for, this is very rewarding though. An absolute stunner.