Springbank Local Barley, Cask Strength & Kilkerran 8yo Bourbon | Various % ABV

It’s Been a Minute!

Apologies, I’ve been a bit busy. Work, study and marital bliss ( with zero irony; my wife is the best) meant everything piled up for a while, so I’ve been incognito attempting to balance a pretty high load. However, study is done, for this year at least, and now I’m back to bother you all.

And what better way to kick that off than with yet another spicy Campbeltown take?

It’s been nearly a full year since my last Springbank article, which received a ‘mixed’ reception from various readers, of whom I’m confident not all have been retained as long term subscribers to this site. Such as it is though; we’re always here with content available at the readers’ discretion, not the authors’ dicta. So, has much changed in the intervening year, either in perspective or the state of play?

Well, I can’t really speak for the rest of the world, being tucked down in little old Adelaide, segregated from most of whisky culture by at least state boundaries, or at most several oceans. But in this wee corner of the world, things appear simultaneously very similar, and very different.

The similarities are easy; the word Springbank still incites ludicrous pricing from all but the fairest of retailers (and even then, it is only non-ludicrous by comparison), it is still incredibly difficult liquid for most to source without paying even more ludicrous secondary market prices, where greed-driven flippers opportunistically profit off the whole exercise at the expense of Springbank fans and drinkers.

Some might say it has softened a touch, but that’s very arguably less to do with the whisky market, and more to do with the state of disposable income, which is where the “very different” aspect comes into play. You see, Australia has a significant housing crisis right now, and coupled with the global economy doing not-so-well for the majority of punters, plus the ever widening gap between household income and housing prices, times are tough.

I don’t want this to become too political, especially given the aforementioned reception to some of my more socialised views expressed in these pages, but suffice to say this on the parallels of the two; as far as I’m concerned, whisky is for drinking, and houses/apartments/condos/fancy-blooming-sheds are for living in, not abject, unregulated speculation. I know, I know, may Ayn Rand strike me down where I stand. Right, moving on.

The point is, people are struggling, and the luxury of following whisky trends moves further out of the reach of more and more people due to circumstance - even without considering whisky price trends as a whole. It seems to be increasingly the purview of those working in the whisky industry and those with an abundance of disposable income.

That doesn’t mean whisky isn’t still enjoyed by your average “middle class” enthusiast (if such a thing even truly exists anymore), but its culture appears to be decreasingly aimed at that audience. These sentiments have been iterated more times than we can count through almost every format that commentates on whisky culture, and no less here on this very website, but it is relevant to reiterate.

Economics are, evidently, more valued by and irrefutable to society than whisky culture, and at least here in Australia, the same appears to be true of affordable living conditions. I can’t see either of those prioritisations having any negative long term implications whatsoever…hmm.

So yes, the state of play for releases like this Local Barley is the same and yet different. Despite all of the work that Springbank puts into fairly pricing, distributing and advocating for the opening and subsequent enjoyment in their whiskies, it remains a conflict; a fraught, angst-generating experience riddled with stress and dismay for the majority. Yet some mouthy bloody reviewers just won’t shut up about the stuff, stoking everyone’s fear of missing out.

Well, that’s not my objective. I won’t needlessly critique J&A Mitchell just to be contrarian or to labour a point, nor will I conform to the idea that everything they release is of rainbows, sunshine and lollipops.

I hold nothing but respect and, earnestly, admiration for the company and their role in the industry. They are to be commended, but I will give the closest facsimile of objectivity possible, as I have always attempted in the past, to show that although Springbank and Glengyle do outstanding work, have nigh on infallible integrity and a resounding commitment to steering their own ship according to their own headings, their whisky is variable.

This is something to be celebrated, but not forgotten.

Review 1/3

Springbank Local Barley, 11yo, 2022 bottling, 55% ex-sherry, 35% ex-bourbon, 10% ex-rum, Belgravia barley from Glencraigs Farm, 55.1% ABV
£110 paid (retail from £100 all the way up to senseless, depending on where you were)

This bottling has already been reviewed by our own Archibald and Dallas over a year ago; apologies for the delay. It takes a while for stuff to get down to Aus!

I vaguely recalled from first reading their reviews that they enjoyed this bottling, though I avoided re-reading their review until I’d completed my notes and established my take; as little bias as possible, please.

Surprisingly, I came to find post-writing that there was some congruence of opinion. As previously espoused, I don’t particularly value consensus of opinion unless the data for that consensus is both independent and statistically significant, but it’s interesting nevertheless. Anyway, let’s crack on.

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*Another rock solid Local Barley release*

Nose

The sherry component is quite apparent with some nice nuttiness; a la walnuts and pecans, plus some very pleasing gristy elements with a reserved yet definitive puff of chimney smoke.

There’s a sulfidic aspect, as with all Springbank, the level of which almost pushes the envelope for me, but it’s dominantly the distillate-derived spectrum I’m partial to; roasted meats, a little ocean breeze sans-salt, tinges of burnt hair (awful by itself, but the traces in here are quite complementary), something farmy/manure-esque and flits of passionfruit- all well oriented organosulfurs.

As it opens up there’s an increasing feel of desiccated coconut and some other lactonic, sweet elements; perhaps the bourbon casks in this batch were a bit fresher than the previous year’s? A touch of nice petrochemical/benzene-y sweetness too. There’s not quite the ester-forward aspect of last year’s release either, rather favouring those savoury/nutty elements, probably augmented by the sherry casks.

Palate

Significantly greater fruitiness is emerging here; some ripe peaches and mango joining the passionfruit, on a scale consistent with other releases. The farmy/manure notes seem to take on a jasmine-esque (i.e. indole/cresol) aspect through retronasal which is again pleasing.

Otherwise, we seem to be on a similar overall trajectory; the sulfidic elements are all present, lending more meaty and savoury qualities, while the cask provides enough maturity via coconut, white pepper and baking spices to create balance. The nuttiness persists too with some dry walnut shell, though there’s not a lick of rancio to spoil the mood, even through the finish.

A splash of water wakes up a touch more of the fruit and nuts, but then the density of flavour softens a bit; pros and cons, both versions are good.

The Dregs

Pretty quintessential. As a disclaimer, I always try to compare these releases with other stablemates as a check of my palate and memory; in this case, a side by side was done (over a number of tasting sessions) with three 12yo Cask Strength bottlings, two different bottlings of the 10yo and the previous release of Local Barley.

The first dram or two out of this were a little reserved, but either time and air has helped or my nose was a bit off kilter for the first pass (which was over 6 months ago now).

It’s a stark change compared to the previous 100% bourbon cask release; both are very good, and arguably the sherry cask influence here results in a whisky more indicative of Springbank’s house style, but I think that spirit forward yet estery balance in the previous release helps it pip this one slightly. All personal choice though; both bottlings are class acts.

I was concerned at first nosing that the sherry casks were of the tainted variety that seem endemic to the 15yo core bottling (and perhaps there were one or two of those casks in the vatting) but all has come well in the fullness of time; cue a sigh of relief.

As with any of these bottlings, especially among the Local Barley line up, the pricing is anywhere between silly to go-procreate-with-thyself. The mark given here is for the price paid, which I think is very darn reasonable given the quality and lack of production efficiency from the distillery. That said, please knock off a point or more when evaluating against the MSRP/secondary et al available to you.

Score: 8/10

Review 2/3

Springbank 12yo Cask Strength, Batch 024, 2023 bottling, 40% ex-sherry, 60% ex-bourbon, 54.1% ABV
£100 paid (retail from £65 all the way up …)

I won’t beat around the bush too much; this is probably the most disappointing 12CS batch that I can remember sampling. Even the relatively heavy wine cask influence of batch 21 had more appeal (from memory at least; none left to compare against). I’m not mad about this, for what it’s worth, just a little disappointed.

As stated earlier; the batch variation in this distillery due to its process and variable cask selections are part of the beauty and charm. We embrace it as part and parcel of following this distillery. But it should be clearly stated which batches are better or worse with equal emphasis (all within the realms of personal opinion, naturally). None of this is to say this is a bad whisky; the score should reflect that this is still a good whisky. It’s only that by comparison with other instances of this distillate, it leaves a little to be desired.

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Love it or hate it, Springbank is never boring*

Nose

Off the bat, quite a bit of modern style sherry. What do I mean by that? The very simplistic, straight up and down fruit ’n’ spice profile that one might expect of a PX release from say Glendronach, Glenallachie, Glengoyne, or really any Glen-beige if we’re to be quite harsh.

There’s a touch of yeastiness creeping in, and the casks proffer a bit of milk chocolate, rubbed pennies and vanillin with air, but we seem to be missing a gaping hole where much of the distillate usually resides. Is this a batch of more mild distillate? Perhaps they’d just CIP’d [cleaned in place - Ed.] the stills? Or are these casks occluding some character?

Palate

Thankfully, the distillate is more apparent here; some of the highland style peat, a bit of meaty goodness and more yeasty aspects augmented by some light tropical thiols. It’s a hard fought battle though, as these more characteristic distillate tones are swept aside by the sweetness and, what wine makers would call, “typicity” of the sherry casks, which indeed leave impressions of PX or very young Oloroso imbued casks.

On the plus side, there’s no detectable cask sulfur (at least to my nose) so it again avoids the issues of its 15yo sibling. A dose of water helps tame a little of the sherry and pushes some very pleasing grapefruit and lychee to the surface; some redemption.

The Dregs

If sherry casks are really your schtick, then this might be right up your alley. The greatest blow dealt, to my palate at least, is the suppression of distillate and the resultant lack of complexity.

The 12CS line has, for better or worse, always been one of the most marmite releases batch-to-batch in the SB lineup. Even by comparison to other SB series, it has never been safe, always bold and unapologetic. Yet this batch feels, dare I say… safe?

I don’t think this could offend all but the most delicate of single malt drinkers, which is oxymoronically a little insulting. But hey, as stated above; horses for course. At time of writing, it has an averaged score above 88 on whiskybase, so it must be excellent right?

As with all these reviews, the score is for the price paid. It nearly pushed a 6, but with context factored I don’t believe that’s representative of the words above. Knock off one or more points for increasingly ludicrous retail/secondary pricing as appropriate to your area and circumstances.

Score: 6/10

Review 3/3

Kilkerran 8yo Cask Strength, Batch 08, 2022 bottling, 100% bourbon cask matured, 55.8% ABV
£65 paid (retail from £55 …)

Firstly, a tip of the hat to our own Ramsay, who reviewed this bottling over a year ago now. Admittedly, he enjoyed this much more than I did, and I’m glad for that fact, both in that he gets to enjoy the liquid, and that it aids my argument that consensus is much less useful than context. There are likely readers whose palates align much more closely to Ramsay’s, and possibly some whose palates align more with mine, goodness forbid.

It might have sounded in the opening section for the Springbank 12 batch 24 that I was being a bit harsh (reader’s interpretation to make, not mine). Well, this one is a bit more brutal again, I’m sorry to say; this release was quite a let down. After the staggeringly good (well, I staggered) Batch 2 release, reviewed here, I was incredibly excited to get my hands on another all-bourbon-cask release in this series. Opening this, though, was an experience that ‘crestfallen’ does little justice to express. Let’s kick on to the notes and see why.

Score: 5/10

**Average.**
***TL;DR***
*Not all sequels are equal*

Nose

This starts a bit awkwardly, the composition feeling somewhat disjointed. There’s some American oak (vanilla, coconut, sawdust and some butteriness) competing against a not-so-flattering fishy/pyridine quality which doesn’t tessellate, plus a little residual new make and feinty/tailsy aspect (allegedly their tails cut is circa 58% according to this article, which is pretty darn low). The pyridine aspect implies this could be a little on the under-matured side. With time, the peat joins in and helps ameliorate the fishy quality somewhat; good soot and mild herbes de provence. A hint of Play-Doh can also be found, further implicating the youthfulness. Where are the estery fruits, the tropical thiols, the sense of poise and togetherness?

Admittedly a splash of water helps to quell some of this, and indeed a little citrus and good plaster comes out, but it needs near surgical handling to hit this balance.

Palate

Better than the nose. The peat really comes to the rescue; some good charcoal BBQ, more solid herb/terpenic aspects plus white pepper, then a better integration of the casks, though a bit of butter menthol emerges (a Tyree signifier of youth).

The fishy aspect is also less pronounced here, though there remains a lighter sense of the new make/tails character with some isovaleric acid. This is a shame; once esterified (as aided by enough time and pH drop in cask) ethyl isovalerate has some lovely apple/pineapple qualities, which are probably components of more mature releases.

The Dregs

It’s just not there yet. The components are evidently here; the distillate can be found, the oak extractives are coming along and the house style can be identified, but nothing is quite integrated just yet. Perhaps some sister casks at the same age would have served better for this release, but whichever casks were vatted for this probably should have been held aside for the 12yo core bottling.

I figured it must have been me. Please let it be me. If it was an off day and the fault was mine, I could come back to this later and fall in love with it as much as Batch 2. I first tasted that something like four years ago (crikey I’m getting old) and there must have been enough intervening time since last tasting it to have built up the profile in my head, rose tinted glasses and all that.

Palate variation and, what my dad likes to broadly call “meat induced errors” (we people being the meat), are always the first port of call for these things. So I asked my wife to set up a triangle test between this new bottling and some of the last dregs I have in my Batch 2 bottle. It was laughably easy to pick out the batch 8. I asked her to repeat the test two more times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke; bang, bang, two more easy picks. Then I figured that the difference must be the time in the open bottle with so much headspace that had changed the Batch 2; such was my fear that I opened up my only backup bottle of the Batch 2 for another round of triangle tests. Same result; three for three.

Resigned, here I am. Again, I’m not angry, just disappointed. I’m glad to see that the batch variation occurs, just a little sad about its nature.

I struggled with scoring this. Quite a lot in fact; had any other distillery as relatively young as Glengyle released this as a new product, as an 8YO, at the given price, I would likely be quite pleased; clearly this has the potential to be some very good juice. There’d be talk of great potential, watching them closely as they develop and many other such things which our community advocates for with distilleries such as Ardnamurchan.

But given Glengyle’s outstanding track record, it’s tough not to draw comparisons. I could have gone with either a 5 or 6 for this bottling, but ultimately I’ve landed on the lower mark; not everyone will be able to purchase this for the price I have, and for some people it will be their first KK 8CS. On that basis, I think this lets the side down, especially considering the hype that has unavoidably built up around this series. If secondary prices apply, knock off another point. Pinch of salt as always.

We link to other reviews, forever mindful of individual opinion.

Score: 5/10

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. TK

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