Springbank 17 Year Old Review

Springbank is one of those distilleries that has such a storied and influential history that it’s hard to ever pass up any of their offerings. Especially since beyond the history, there is always an immense level of precision and quality. Springbank is home to the Springbank, Longrow, and Hazelburn lines of whisky. Springbank being moderately peated, Longrow more heavily peated, and Hazelburn being unpeated.

My favorite bit of history regarding the distillery is that Masataka Taketsuru learned much of what he knew at this Campbeltown powerhouse. Taketsuru spent time at Springbank back in the early to mid 1910s before returning to Japan to help the Suntory company found the Yamazaki Distillery and then form his own company, the Nikka Whisky Company. With his new company Nikka he went on to open the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries.

I actually find a very clear stylistic similiarity between the Yoichi single malt and Springbank’s, it’s amazing how evident this still is over a century later.

Back to this bottling though. Springbank’s 2020 17 Year offering of only 9200 bottles spent 14 years in ex bourbon and rum barrels before spending the rest of its years in Madeira casks. Madeira is essentially a cousin to sherry that hails from the Madeira islands in Portugal. Madeira, like sherry, can be dry or very sweet and everything in between.

The whiskey itself presents itself with a swath of aromas and flavors that are exciting and perplexing. The diversity and depth of flavor is astounding.

Bitter orange peel, leather, cloves, smoked darker pitted fruits, dusty ash, a touch of vibrant coppery notes, and an almost muted nuttiness.

Once again Springbank did not disappoint. This dram was an absolute privilege to be able to sample, and I highly recommend anyone that has an opportunity to try or buy takes it immediately.

This was not a completely objective review as it was not done blind. I was aware of what I was drinking at the time of drinking it. The bottle was shared by a friend that is unaffiliated with the distillery and was not provided by Springbank for review.