Jørn's Springbank

It's great to have friends... it's great to drink whisky. Whisky have brought me a lot of friends, and there's nothing like dramming with a group of friends or exchanging samples with friends. One of my friends is a bit different from the others..instead of bottles of whiskies, he is into purchasing casks..well maybe not instead of bottles, but "as well" as bottles :-)

Jørn G Pedersen is a great guy, that apart from swapping samples with me enjoys golf and whisky, which is a great combination when holidaying in Scotland. Not being a golfer myself I have to let do with whisky only.
Some of the drams I'll be writing about in the future will be things I got from him and that I really look forward to taste.

Jørn was one of the few guys out there who was smart and lucky enough to get hold of a casks of Springbank when they had a window open in the cask selling house. It's not really an option anymore. This cask was shared purchase of his Golf Club, and I think it's under Jørn's influence it was bottled at cask strength and thanks for that. After purchasing a bottle, he said that if shared that at Limburg he would give me another one. I remember leaving the dreg with Teun (of http://www.maltstock.com/) to share around Netherlands.. I hope it was received well.

1. Springbank OB Private Bottling Fresh Bourbon Barrel #261 10yo 59.9%

Distilled 01.10.1999, Bottled November 2009

The nose is sweet, créme brûlée, slightly peaty

palate : remarkable peaty, woody, full bodied, creamy and oily. Whiskyjuice. It's "darker", heavier than what you would expect from a fresh bourbon barrel Springbank if you expects anything like the 100 proof (EU-version) or the Bourbon Wood expression. 

The peatyness surprises me a lot. It makes me think Longrow influence. I know that Springbank is made lightly peated, but this is more. Not Longrow but close I say. If it was a 2nd fill cask I would have put my money on that it contained Longrow before (or Laphroiag!). But it's first fill. My best guess is that this is the run they did straight after they did a Longrow run. I know from people in the industry that they spend quite some efforts cleaning out the system after they have been running peaty batches to get ready for nonpeaty batches. I've always thought they should make some lightly peated stuff this way, and maybe Springbank have been doing this!

This is great stuff and I really enjoy the oilyness and the peat of this Bourbon Springer. Well done Jørn or maybe just a congratulations with the luck of getting a cask like this. Thanks for letting me try this :-)

Rating 90