Springbank 9 Year Old 2004 Gaja Barolo

Springbank likes to experiment with casks. For this young malt they used Gaja Barolo wine casks. Barolo is an Italian red wine, in this case casks from the cellars of the world famous (for wine lovers at least) Angelo Gaja. It is a double maturation instead of a finish. After all, after 4 years of maturation on bourbon casks the whisky was transferred to the wine casks and allowed to mature for another 5 years.

There is quite a lot going on on the nose. Butane gas, peach, almonds, chocolate and oranges (always a nice combo), pear drops, but also more typical Springbank traits such as jute, chalk and some wet earth.

On the palate the earthy notes, jute, chalk, peat and some salt come first, before the red wine influence shows. Unfortunately also quite some tannins both from the oak as the wine. Then some red fruit. Think berries. Some rhubarb emerges. The peat fades away.

On the finish, which is medium long, the peat returns together with quite some tannins.

A nice and sweet Springbank, with just a tad too much tannins to my taste.

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