Springbank 12 yo 100 proof 57% ~ early 90s vs Springbank 10 yo Sutti Import 59% ~ a rather dark vatting

Springbank 12 yo 100 proof 57% ~ early 90s

Unmistakable quality at full volume, and the wall of scent is classic Springbank. Thick herbal liqueur, some pine or fir based balm, molten ambery resin, dried up mentholatum, coffee grounds, and yet sticky sweet and jammy with sweet spices and all sorts of purple and black hues. Simultaneously dirty with motor oil and soot, old smoke on plaster walls, grimy ‘ripe’ earth. Chilli seeds and black pepper sauce provide a surprising heat, and it turns distinctly umami and chewy with burnt ends and sizzled meat towards the finish.

Springbank 10 yo Sutti Import 59% ~ a rather dark vatting

A famous bottle! And no disappointment. It’s exceptional concentration belies the finesse with with these tremendous flavours are balanced. This is a reduction of espresso, the heaviest cognac, litres of herbal liqueurs, soy sauce, earl grey tea – yes some green-yellow-citric overtones. Then the earthiness: rancio, wet leather, birch tar. I’m just surprised it flows in my glass and not oozes with this kind of viscosity. And once you get used to its gravity, it keeps giving: Salt (a lot!), black smoke, full swing in a busy garage repair, litres of motor oil, graphite lead, crusted soot, smoking tyres. Voluminous yet coherent, and never brutish. A masterstroke.

So doubtless the 12 yo and the 10 yo Sutti Import share much stylistically, but the Sutti is to the 12 yo what espresso doppio is to cafe americano.