Springbank 34 yo 1966 / 2000 #1966 511 55%

The sharp eyed might say 511 had no neck label, and you are right, my original photo was too poor to use here. Anyway this has to be one of the best 1966s. The volume of the fruit here is not something I usually associate with Springbank. Yet here it is – a deep candied orange and ripest cantaloupe, with a side of soot, black smoke and petrol. It’s glorious. Bags of coal, old oaken worktables cracked and stained through and through with lubricants, grime and soot. Empty cans of machine something or other and dried lumps of resin roll about. Mastic, musty honey, olive oil, overripe oranges and rubber boots. On the tongue the sharp smoke explodes into the picture, pulling along a very willing saltwater and perhaps some wet wool and pastilles. Time brings peat in the form of dry earth and medicinal roots. Superb. 94 pts