Springbank 12 Year Old Cask Strength

I do enjoy Springbank 12 CS - I've got 2 different batches open at the moment and they are both unique but with the same DNA. I love the dirty, fusty, funky notes that make me picture the inside of a dunnage warehouse. Try it after something unpeated and you'll definitely notice the peat in it. Nice review (though I give the ones I've had a few more points).

This is one of the 20 or so single malts that I would place in my top 5-10 single malts.

It definitely has peat, though I've noticed batch variation in how it manifests.

MY experience with my first bottle was that I wasn't all that impressed until about a year after I opened the bottle and then it really was wonderful. Maybe it opened up (it WAS gassed) but more likely my palate matured. Subsequent bottles (I've now opened my third) have not lasted a year. The current bottle was great from the start and has continued to improve.

This is not a beginner whisky.

Thanks for the review. I was gifted the latest batch this Christmas and I'm looking forward to opening it. @Nozinan that's impressive that you can fit 20 bottles in your top 10! :)

I agree this is a very good whisky, complex and satisfying. I find myself to be attracted by less peat and more sherry lately. I was actually surprised by my tasting notes (especially what I found in the nose), since when I first tasted this one before christmas, I had a huge "woah effect". And there is definitely light peat and earthy notes in there, my review wasn't exactly clear about it. I'll have to taste it once more to be sure. Maybe I could then add a few points...

@WhisQueer If you like Springbank and want more peat, you should try Longrow. About your last post, I would say first that many first dram are not representative. Some have more high notes and are vibrant because the more volatile flavors are over represented while others are closed because they need air exposure to express themselves. My second remark is simple, we all have good and bad tasting days and maybe we should talk about it and calling it something like tasting variation.

@WhisQueer By the way I like your music references but take into account that I once made a reference to György Cziffra an hungarian pianist who played like a beast ( in a good way) in the '50 and tried to emulate Horowitz in the '70 (which was not a good idea as he wasn't Horowitz).

Good. I also like Vladimir Horowitz (unbeatable interpretation of Schubert IMHO) ; -) But maybe we should as well look for references in rock music, too. Cheers !

Interesting review!

I've got a bottle of this open at the moment (different batch) which I'm intending to write a review about for connosr. But it's proving hard to review. Its a quality whisky but it's wound together very tight. I'm finding it quite difficult to pick out flavour references.

@Wierdo, funny you mention that, I bought a bottle for our club and have found it to be rather closed and as you describe "wound up tight". It's been open over a year and is still 60-70% full, it's progressively gotten better but still is fussy as everything.