Springbank 30 yo 1965 ‘Lost Bottlings Series’ Master of Malt vs Springbank 30 yo parchment label
Just to show not all old bottles were great:
Springbank 30 yo 1965 ‘Lost Bottlings Series’ Master of Malt 45.6%
Quite an olfactory wave consisting of lots of tiny goings on. You get fleeting glimpses of pollen and nectar, flints, dirty muddy sand, light smoke, dried sap (ooh a lot), salty rocks, spring-cleaned warehouses, some sort of woody herb flakes like rosemary but not quite, all held together by a thick and tightly oily body. Lots of yellow overtones too, dried yellow flower and hay. However…. the palate is a disaster. Getting musty half dried flowers, stale vase water, standing rainwater with lots of earth and sand mixed in… it’s just bad.
Springbank 30 yo parchment label 46% ~ circa early 90s bottling
Amazing. I smell fruit, the deep ambrosial and tropical sort. Light smoke and a deep phenolic earthiness. Hints of bung cloth, indistinct minerals, something coastal and also streaks of a thin but firm savoury green like lovage or majoram. Magnificent Springbank. Dried out resins and a store of perfume woods. The feat is repeated on the palate with such depth and richness, both of the fruit and also the phenolics: earth and charcoal, wispy smoke, lots of little notes and it’s all there, plus an astringent and herby green foil for balance.. Great grip and composition with an oily and salty and undoubtedly martime core.
Whiskyrific RSS
- Balblair 1975 / 2012 2nd Release 46% vs Balblair 10 yo Gordon & Macphail 100 proof
- Convalmore 24 yo 1978 /2003 Rare Malts 59.4% vs Convalmore 40 yo 1977 / 2017 Cadenhead 56.8%
- Lochside 29 yo 1981 / 2010 The Perfect Dram 51.1% vs Lochside 31 yo 1966 / 1998 Silent Stills #3910 57.7%
- Royal Brackla 16 yo Zenith 57% vs Royal Brackla 17 yo Intertrade 63.9%~bottled 1987
- Laphroaig 30 yo 43% ~ early 2000s vs Lagavulin 30 yo 1976 / 2006 52.6%
- Highland Park 13 yo 2006 for Simplywhisky Singapore #1646 64.7% vs Highland Park 30 yo 1989 / 2019 Gordon & Macphail 19/003 51.1%
- Pulteney 13 yo 1967 / 1980 Cadenhead 46% vs Laphroaig 21 yo Cadenhead for Sestante 52.1% ‘White Label’
- Ben Nevis 21 yo 1996 / 2018 Whisky Doris #2028 52.2% vs Ben Nevis 21 yo Private Bottling #1407 48.8%
- Glen Ord 40 yo 1965 Royal Mile Whiskies 40.1% vs Glenury Royal 24 yo 1973 / 1997 Signatory #6851 53.7%
- Lagavulin 12yo Special Release 2019 56.5% vs Pulteney 12yo 2008 / 2020 Nectar 57.5%
whiskyrific 