Springbank Calvados Wood 2000 12 Years Old

Style: Crisp, Sweet and Spicy

Rating: ☆ [Recommended]

Nose:

Kicks off with a fresh and spirited tone, fragrant green apples, kiwi, fruit tarts while coal fire churning gently underneath. A few acidic touches and the spirit/herbal spice is quite fired up and locked up part of the aroma. Shy malt sponge cake gradually opens up with stewed fruits sweetness at the back.

Palate:

Less side notes and more clarity on the palate - Starts with aromatic green apples, kiwis, guavas and nectarines accentuate beautifully at the front taking a hint of airiness. Concorde pears, malt cake, a mineral peck, peat smoke all gently build into the lower layer. Grassy note and peppermint spice humming gently at the background.

Finish:

The malt singing cheerfully, more green apples, some smoke and umami to finish.

Thoughts:

Dialing back to the old days and I am pretty sure this is my first ever Springbank (well, it was not that long ago!). The crisp sweetness with this Calvados cask got my eyes sparkling back then, and now, 2019, I finally got a bottle and it is still a great drop as I remembered. Calvados cask maturation is such a rare sight and sometimes I wonder why this is not done more often. Granted, there is weakness in this expression that it feels there is an additional spiciness stacked upon the spirit which stifled some elements within. On the other hand, the aromatic green fruit signatures do well to freshen up the whisky which makes it such a clean, fine dram.

[52.7% | Original Bottling | 2000 Distilled | 2012 Bottled | Cask Strength | Limited Release | 9420 Bottles | *]

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