We are concentrating on the wood……

The most common question people ask is why we use old oak casks that have had other spirits in prior to the scotch whisky.

There are two main reasons. Firstly the lack of British Oaks due to our past endeavours building ships and homes without replacing the felled trees hence the way our moorland’s look today (Not as natural as some imagine).

The second reason is the abundance of American & European oaks available, added to the mix Bourbons can only be matured in fresh wood it makes perfect sense to re-use them in Scotland for malt whisky production plus environmentally its a good thing.

Springbank Distillery 12 Year Old – 70cl / 54.3%

First whisky off the block is the new Springbank 12 year old cask strength, it’s a 65% sherry cask and refill bourbon casks.  We had this dram on our tasting evenings after the open day tasting we held on August 1st’ General view is it’s probably the best 12 year old cask strength in the series so far this year! I have to say it’s got a lot going on with a perfectly balanced taste that we all know and love from Springbank, the sherry wood never over dominates. Available now.

Longrow Red Port Cask from Springbank Distillery – 70cl / 53.7%

The next whisky is still awaiting the final bottling run at the distillery, it’s the new and rather amazing Longrow 11 year old Port wood cask. It’s name is Longrow Red 11 year old, just like last years this is a limited edition with 9000 bottles world wide, as usual we will have a larger delivery to ensure it lasts a few weeks (Hopefully). The colour is a rich red-pink amber, the nose is quite simply spectacular, now i am no peaty malt maniac but this one has me hooked. I am even putting my own name down on the hold list for this dram. Expected in-store around the first week of September.

Hazelburn From Springbank 10 Year Old – 70cl / 46%

Another malt still awaiting bottling is the new Hazelburn 10 year old 46% Vol. It’s all change with the Label as a new circular panel replaces the 3 still colour image label we have had since the first 8 year old was released. This is a bourbon cask matured Hazelburn that’s truly transformed the palate to a more highland taste, no smoke or peat as one would expect but most definitely a much bigger palate than the old 8 year bourbon cask used to launch this dram back in the early 2000s. Expected in-store around the first week of September