Springbank 34 1964 / 1998 Cadenhead 52.2% vs Springbank 30 1972 / 2002 Chieftain’s #410 57.8%

Springbank 34 1964 / 1998 Cadenhead 52.2%

Thick, oxidised and heavy sherry the kind that brushes by mere fruit with a disdainful glance and plunges gleefully into the tarry, umami bathed of the pool. Pails of soy sauce, unsweetened cocoa, licorice, angelica, burnt herbs, reduced cola akin to a dark amaro. It moved unflinchingly forward with menthol cough syrup, medicinal bark extracts etc. Just massive. Dirty smoke, engine exhaust, leaking fuel and hot running engines. Bags of black coal, bung cloth and sea washed mud. Powerhouse Springbank. 93 pts might even be 94.

Springbank 30 1972 / 2002 Chieftain’s #410 57.8%

Jammy-rich and luscious fruit. More of a patisserie here, with baked almond and sugar butter tarts, hot pastry steaming and all. Sweet marmalade and fresh berry compote, dark chocolate, milk tea. Spice it up with cardamom, sweet cinnamon, haw flakes; And now a fair lick of smoky exhaust soon brings hot engine and spilt petrol. Interesting how these 2 agree on what it means to be Springbank. Damp earth, smoking cedar and hints of dunnage. Washed up seaweed and dirty salted rocks by the tide pool, where you stand to sip oversteeped black tea. Springbank forever.  92 pts