Springbank 10 Year Old 1998 Glengarry Cask Owners 224

Sixty whisky aficionados from the whiskyclub Glengarry in Ghent, led by the infamous Bob Minnekeer, pooled resources (about 150 EUR per person) way back in 1998 to purchases no less than six casks of Springbank. Ten years later they started bottling them and thus came up with a nice set of six Springbank Single Casks. Thanks to my buddy Jan VC, I was able to try them all. I will start with cask 224, distilled in June 1998 and bottled in April 2009. It is a fresh port cask.

The nose starts rather salty, but that evaporates quickly, to be replaced by sweet wine (doh!), wild flowers and leather. Hazelnuts. A bitter touch emerges. Walnuts, no doubt. Quite prickly and oily. Adding water makes it somewhat meaty.

The attack is very powerful and sweet, but at the same time quite bitter from the young cask. Some citric acid and red fruits. Black grapes. A briny side too. Not bad. Less sharp with water, making it a tad better.

The finish is long and drying.

Quite complex, but a bit too bitter to be really great. You can solve that by adding a good dash of water. It can cope with it, trust me.

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