Fresh Sherry vs Bourbon | Various ABV

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*The sherry is too much, but this fresh bourbon lets the Springbank shine*

Whisky Monday Pt.1

I wish to take an opportunity to share my whisky travels following some festival madness.

It’s been weeks since the Glasgow Whisky Festival, but the weekend was such a blast that I’m still buzzing about it now. If you haven’t read about it, hop on here. Oh, and here, to read Dougie’s and Ainsley’s recollections and join us vicariously through their graceful words.

I should confess: I was part of the infamous team with Dougie who collectively thought the Springbank 12 Cask Strength was a blend… so take everything that follows with a pinch of salt.

Anyway, after the whirlwind of drams and connecting faces to names, a good husband and wife couple, let’s call them Anita and Bruce, decided to extend the whisky experience even further. Bruce has taken care of me every time I’ve set foot in Glasgow. In fact, he has taken care of many whisky folk who have visited, especially those coming from afar. This time, though, he took an extra step to organise a trip to the north of Scotland, to visit the micro-distillery of Dornoch, and some other things in between.

However, I’ll talk about these two amazing days in an upcoming piece where I can review the spoils of that trip too. Today, I’d like to tell the story of my first encounter with ‘Bruce’.

In May of 2023, I embarked on my first pilgrimage to Scotland, first landing in Glasgow and then flying out to Campbeltown for three days, before spending a final day in Glasgow. Upon catching wind of my visit, Bruce immediately reached out and offered to pick me up from Glasgow Airport.

I politely declined for two reasons: for one, another friend had already arranged to pick me up from the airport, but more importantly, I was a bit apprehensive about being picked up by a stranger that I’ve only spoken to a few times on the internet. Friends on the internet aren’t real, as we all know; they look to take advantage of you.

But Bruce had also discovered that I would be spending the following few days in Campbeltown and, as I wouldn’t be able to see him in Glasgow, he immediately responded: “I’ll see you in Campbeltown on Monday then!” Goodness… this guy would stop at nothing.

However, after getting a few endorsements of Anita and Bruce from trusted sources, I agreed to meet them in Campbeltown.

We arranged to meet at 9:30am outside of the Springbank shop, and as they walked from the car with beaming smiles, we embraced firmly, almost like old friends rekindling. I realised I wasn’t meeting someone ordinary, Anita and Bruce are celebrities in our whisky circle. As we queued for the opening of the shop, we chatted about everything; whisky and not. Bruce inevitably asked me an obvious question: “So, how many bottles are you planning on picking up?”

For anyone travelling to Campbeltown for the first time, there are at least six bottles to pick up from Springbank: four hand fill bottles - one from each of their demijohns, a cage bottle (if you haven’t heard of these, I’ll explain later), and your own custom blended bottle from the Barley to Bottle tour - should you be savvy enough to be arrange that tour in advance. That’s not including anything else at the shop, or anything from neighbouring Glen Scotia!

Since I was flying out in a few days time, the conundrum I faced was baggage allowance. I was only allowed 15kg on the tiny domestic Campbeltown to Glasgow flight; a small but important detail that I had overlooked. It wasn’t enough for me to carry all the bottles I intended to buy.

This was where Anita and Bruce came to my rescue, since they were driving, they helped me carry my bottles back to Glasgow, and I would pick them up when I returned in a few days. This was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

So when they floated the idea of heading up to Dornoch after the GWF weekend of 2024, I was intrigued. However, I was in the middle of planning a two-day hop back to Campbeltown. Bruce said that Campbeltown is a good shout, and the decision was mine. “The plan is to go drive up to Dornoch on Monday,” said Bruce, “then come back on Tuesday morning so I can work.” I thought it over.

I was still chasing after another cage bottle, plus there was that exhilarating Cadenhead’s Blending Lab experience I hoped to do. The Blending Lab wasn’t set up when I last visited 18 months ago, and I had hoped to experience it after so many have been raving about it. But when push came to shove, I decided to join them instead.

Dornoch is a place that’s hard to get to, but with Bruce driving, I didn’t have to worry about the logistics of the commute. What sweetened the deal for me was Bruce’s offer to get hold of a cage bottle, so that’s one less reason to go to Campbeltown. While I was up north, I figured I might as well make the most of it and booked a whisky tasting at Benromach on Tuesday, letting Bruce drop me off before he makes his way back to Glasgow.

Then came the twist: A few weeks before we left, Bruce told me that he didn’t have to work on Tuesday, which meant Tuesday would be an extra road trip, not just a simple journey back, and we could hit up distilleries along the way. And just like that, my Benromach plans were scrapped in favour of more time with Bruce and hopefully a handful of distillery visits. The people are always more important, the whisky is simply incidental.

So, on Monday, straight after the madness of the festival weekend, Bruce, Anita, an American couple (in Dramface style, let’s call them Linda and Gary!) and I piled into the car and set off for the North.

None of us had been to Dornoch before, and none of us knew what to expect. All we wanted was a leisurely couple of days, some good whisky, to see Dornoch Distillery first hand, and some great company. Having never met Linda and Gary before, I was a little bit anxious, but I trusted Bruce.

While I’m still talking about him, I have to talk about the cage bottle he got for me, because Bruce sorting out a cage bottle is one of the reasons why I decided to skip Campbeltown and go on the trip to Dornoch.

“Cage bottle” is the colloquial name for distillery exclusives at the Springbank Distillery, but rather than having a few select bottles that anyone could buy, each cage bottle is drawn from a tiny allocation of hand-selected stock; whisky drawn straight from a cask of either Springbank, Longrow, Hazelburn or - more recently added - Kilkerran. The cask types can vary too, most commonly fresh fill or refill bourbon or sherry, but the occasional “exotic” maturations like rum or Madeira can appear too. Every morning, a cage is filled with these, thus the name “cage bottles”. They are essentially duty paid 700ml ‘samples’ and are highly sought after.

Customers line up in front of the cage and, one by one, they get to pick the one they’d like to purchase, with one very interesting caveat: each customer is only allowed one cage bottle per week, which is why the staff takes down your name at the time of purchase and insists that it’s written on the bottle. Once the cage is emptied, customers are out of luck. Although after a heated altercation once-upon-a-time, we hear they may randomly restock later, on certain days.

Being a native Glaswegian, Bruce occasionally drives to Campbeltown, so when he knew I was after a Cage bottle, he promised that he’d get me one. He had asked me what I’d like from the cage, and since last time I picked an ex-bourbon Springbank, I asked for a more cask-heavy version, whether it be Springbank or Longrow (I’ve yet to get along with Hazelburn).

He ended up grabbing me a Springbank 13-year-old fresh sherry. I have been warned that a fresh sherry would be a bit much, covering much of the Springbank character, but I’ll let you into a little secret: despite me generally enjoying bourbon cask matured whiskies, of the expressions to have come out of Springbank that I have tried, the 10 year old PX is among my favourite, so I was very much looking forward to this particular Cage bottle.

Review 1/2

Springbank 13yo Fresh Sherry, Cage Bottle, 2011 / 2024, 56.7% ABV
£80 only available at the distillery

Score: 3/10

**Disappointing.**
***TL;DR***
*Overpowered by a dry and tannic sherry cask*

Nose

Dense strawberry jam, a bit like the kind you get at hotel breakfasts, but even sweeter. Assortment of berries, dried fruits like raisins and dates, cinnamon, and menthol oil.

Palate

Very syrupy, borderline sickly sweet, the lightly peated Springbank spirit manifested itself here as a kind of smoked saltiness, which attempts to counterbalance the gloopy sweetness, but only just barely. A very dense collection of generic dark fruits, accompanied with an intense black coffee note. A full teaspoon of water is needed to open things up, revealing a more oily mouthfeel, which is much more Springbank-like. The orange that I associate with Springbank is also stepping forward, but without the usual zestiness, instead, it’s the kind of orange doused in syrup. I also detected some peaches, blackcurrant, and a touch of sandalwood. Distinctive black tea on the finish, a long one, but very drying and tannic.

The Dregs

There was a bit of disconnect between the palate and the nose, not much of the Springbank character was here on the nose, it was only on the palate where it showed up. There is no question that the sherry was overpowering, I would guess that the whisky spent the full 13 years inside its sherry cask, likely oloroso. While there were no illusions that this was going to be a sherry bomb, I was still hopeful (maybe naively) that the Springbank character would still shine through, but it barely did. The usual oiliness and hint of smoke from Springbank was there, but I wouldn’t recognise it as Springbank. Although; remember I thought the Springbank 12 CS was a blend?

Don’t take me too seriously.

Overall though, this whisky was a bit one dimensional and disappointing. 3/10 for a Springbank cage bottle? It is what it is.

Score: 3/10

Review 2/2

Springbank 11yo Fresh Bourbon, Cage Bottle, 2011 / 2023, 59.9% ABV
£60 (2023) only available at the distillery

For context, I feel I have to bring up this bottle for a bonus review, just for comparison.

I picked up this bottle myself in the shop in May 2023, and I’d like to do a review here just to show what the same spirit could become when it hasn’t undergone such heavy cask influence. Don’t judge it by the fill level, I’ve been way too precious about this bottle, and 18 months later it has barely made it past the shoulder.

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*Feels like pure, unadulterated Springbank; it’s beautiful*

Nose

Olive oil infused with gentle smoke, vanilla and caramel, presumably from the fresh bourbon barrel, some leather in the background.

Palate

Fresh sea salt with an oily mouthfeel, industrial, dirty machine oils, full-on zesty freshness, orange, lemon and lime peels, smoked melons and grapefruits, with vanilla and caramel present again. A dash of water transforms the zestiness, turning it into a sort of coarse black pepper, suddenly the seasoning cupboard is open, cumin, chicken powder, curry powder, all kinds of savoury condiments float to the top. That dash of water turned a rather weighty whisky into a lighter and brighter one. I don’t know which I prefer more, but both are fantastic. The fruit returns on the finish, accompanied with soot, and goes on for minutes. Simply sublime.

The Dregs

Dougie reviewed a similar bottle in 2022, and he claimed it to be the closest thing to a pure and unadulterated Springbank, I cannot agree more.

While many Springbank lovers may hold the core range 10-year-old as the quintessential Springbank, I believe a purely ex-bourbon matured expression shows a more “naked” version of what Springbank is. Sure, a little bit of sherry influence may add a bit more depth and weight to the whisky, but this bottle has plenty of depth and weight to it, potentially because of the ABV, but I think the lightly peated oily spirit has enough oomph to carry itself. Additionally, the knowledge that it’s fully ex-bourbon matured gives us confirmation that the Springbank spirit is robust enough and generally doesn’t benefit from any “booster” casks to make it good, it’s good enough as it is.

Score: 8/10

Final Dregs

If I put these two cage bottles in a blind, I don’t think anyone would be able to tell that it was matured from the same spirit. We all know just how much casks influence the flavour in whiskies, my review on four Linkwoods was my own exercise in identifying similarities and differences as a result of various cask types. Back then, I could still find a fair amount of similarities between the whiskies, but in this case, the similarities are few and far between, the sherry cask has fully dominated the spirit.

P.S. I’ve linked to three Dougie pieces here, I think I may have a crush on him.

P.P.S. I’ve not forgotten about that Dornoch trip, don’t worry; I’ll come back to it. It’s worth it..

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

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