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.
Whiskyrific RSS
- Caol Ila 1978 / 1992 Gordon & Macphail Cask #5347-5351,11553-11564 63.7% vs Caol Ila 12 yo 1978 / 1990 Cadenhead 65.5%
- Glenugie 1967 / 1989 Sestante 43% vs Glenugie 1967 / 1989 Sestante 59.5%
- Clynelish 25 yo 1993 / 2019 Gordon & MacPhail 19/079 54.3% vs Chollet Lot 1960 bottled 2020 ‘#4 Le bon vivant’ Fin Bois Malternative 46.3%
- Macallan 8 yo FLLI Rinaldi 43% 75cl vs Macallan 18 yo 1973 / 1991 43%
- Caperdonich 1972 / 2011 Malts of Scotland #1144 57.4% vs Caperdonich 1972 / 2008 Gordon & MacPhail #1975 57%
- Glen Garioch 27 yo 1991 / 2018 Carn Mor #20392 51% vs Glen Garioch 21 yo 1965 Full Proof 50%
- Talisker 10 yo ‘map label’ 45.8% ~circa early 90s vs Talisker Gordon & MacPhail 100 proof ~ circa 80s bottling
- Laphroaig 1977 / 1995 43% vs Laphroaig 12 yo 1984 / 1996 Cadenhead 60.3%
- Highland Park 25 yo 1992 / 2017 Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting 59.8% vs Mortlach 30 yo 1989 / 2019 Douglas Laing #DL13722 52.4%
- Clynelish 21 yo 1989 / 2010 Whisky Agency 54% vs Clynelish 20 yo 1997 / 2017 Spirit Shop Selection #6932 56.5%
