Springbank 12 years Burgundy Wood

About the Springbank 12 years Burgundy Wood

Springbank 12 years Burgundy Wood is a Campbeltown single malt Scotch whisky. The spirit was distilled in 2003 at Springbank, on the west coast of Scotland. It then spent twelve years in Burgundy wine casks from France. The distillery bottled it at 53.5% in May 2016. Just 10,260 bottles were filled. Red wine wood and a coastal single malt make an unusual pair. That tension is the whole point here. The distillery has stood in Campbeltown since 1828. The barley is still malted on the distillery's own floors. Few Scotch producers do that anymore. The main spirit passes through the stills two and a half times. That odd figure sits between the usual two and three, and it shapes the weight of the malty spirit. Longrow and Hazelburn come off the same stills, under different regimes. Peach and strawberry come first, bright and clearly fruity. Underneath sits something far more savoury. Seaweed, a medicinal edge and a thread of smoke all show up. Molasses sweetens the middle. Then the whisky turns darker on the tongue, with date and dried fruit, brine and a dusting of nutmeg. Spice builds as the fruit fades. It closes dry and salty, with vanilla and one last medicinal note. Plenty of distilleries finish a whisky in wine casks for a few months. This one lived in Burgundy wood for its entire twelve years. That is why the wine reaches so far into the flavour instead of sitting on top. Springbank 12 years Burgundy Wood was a single release in May 2016, capped at 10,260 bottles. Twelve years is a long time in active wine wood. When they are gone, nothing replaces it.