Springbank 16 Local Barley

@KRB80 , I haven't had it, so this is just my distillation of things I've read. But the prevailing opinion seems to be that the new Local Barleys (both the 16 and the 11) are:

•Overpriced

•Still good though

•Not anything like a close recreation of the old Local Barleys from the days of yore

•Significantly different from each other (the 16 v. the 11), but of comparable quality

•Still worth a spin if you're a big Springbank fan

The only place I've seen a lot of reviews has been on the Reddit scotch board. Here's a 16 v. 11 comparison: reddit.com/r/Scotch/…

And another (kind of): reddit.com/r/Scotch/…

For my sake, I bought an 11 LB when I found it on sale a few weeks ago, but I won't open it until "Springbank Spring Break" next April with my whisky club. At that point, I will in fact do the side-by-side-by-side comparisons with the 12 CS and the 14 Fino like you mentioned, but for now I got nuthin'. I suspect the conclusion will be "they're all good, they'll all quite different, and the Local Barley was the poorest value." C'est la vie!

@MadSingleMalt , thank you for your well thought out and informative reply! I'm probably going to pump the brakes and see if the desire is still burning a few weeks from now. If so, I'll pull the the ripcord. My wallet has been turned into a punching bag as of late!

@KRB80 & other interested parties: Maybe I'm the only one who missed the boat, but apparently another Local Barley was recently released! A 10-year-old from a mix of bourbon and sherry casks.

Here's the review that caught me eye:

maltfascination.com/2018/01/…

Indeed! I'm just waiting for the small allocation to (hopefully?!) hit my area...