Springbank 10 yo 1990/2000 (43%, Blackadder, cask #102, 397 bottles)
Colour: very pale, almost new make. Nose: new make indeed! Crushed grass, petrol, agave distillate, freshly milled cereals, vase water, clay and a slightly lactic and waxy combination. Fun, but some distance from contemporary Springbank. Mouth: it has this slightly lactic acidic quality on the palate, along with citrus rinds, olive oil, face cream, mineral oil. It’s rather soft but at the same time a little chaotic. Finish: medium, recovers one or two points with a nicely mineral and slightly mechanical quality. Comments: one of those glimpses into Springbank’s ‘unlikely’ era. It’s charming distillate, but overall much softer and a little whackier than we are used to with Springbank these days.
 SGP: 441 - 82 points. 

Springbank 8 yo 1976/1984 (43%, OB for Japan, sherry, 18000 bottles)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: clean, taut, mineral and gently coastal. Behind that a subtle waxiness, soft notes of hessian, motor oil, freshly laundered fabrics and oily sheep wool. There’s a few white flowers in the mix too. Another lighter shade of Springbank, but there’s much more familiar DNA on display here. Mouth: nicely chalky and lemony with a crisp, dry profile that continues this feeling of tension and poise. More white flowers, some crystallised honey, more soft waxy notes and some grassy olive oil. Finish: long, a little sooty, mineral, still nicely drying and with a peppery aftertaste. Comments: another delicate one, but with more clear Springbank character. A fragile but undeniably charming take on this era’s distillate. 
SGP: 362 - 87 points. 

Springbank 27 yo 1992/2020 (48.4%, OB Private Bottling, cask #273, refill hogshead, 186 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: immediately superb! Wonderfully dry, rooty, turfy peat smoke, hessian canvas, beeswax, seawater, heather honey and impressions of aged mead and old Benedictine. Probably my favourite ‘style’ of Springbank. Mouth: once again, superb peat character, only here it manifests as cleaner, sharper, more brittle and tightly structured. Dry, mineral, smokiness with many coastal inflections, ink, sheep wool, coal scuttle and beach pebbles. A few hints of gorse flower and lemon peel too, all wrapped up in a very rich, waxy texture. Finish: long, very slightly mentholated, more bitter citrus notes, celery salt, more crisp and drying peat smoke. Then herbal notes in the aftertaste and medicinal notes. Comments: pristine and immaculate mature Springbank, with almost Longrow-esque peat character at times. 
SGP: 464 - 92 points.

Springbank 16 yo 1977/1993 (53.9%, OB, cask #332)
Colour: white wine. Nose: amazing pure saltiness, hyper-coastal and brilliantly fresh and sharp. Citrus juices, brine, capers and then exotic fruit notes begin to emerge as well. Wee notes of guava and kumquat. Keeps opening up with fresh grist, cereals and waxes. With water: muddled green herbs, white coastal flowers, pasta water, fresh shellfish, lemon oil and gentian. Mouth: oilier and more rounded than expected, but still with fantastic coastal and saline qualities, superbly sharp mineral aspects, lemon juice, wool, wet pebbles, chalk and terrific waxiness. With water: gets fatter, waxier, saltier, more of these minerals, going towards petrol now really. Also more citrus qualities, rinds, piths, juices etc… Magnificent distillate firing on all cylinders! Finish: very long, still superbly fresh and salty, dried seaweed, soy sauce, a very brittle and subtle peat smoke and things like tarragon, anchovy paste and caraway. Comments: another level still, I really adore these bone-dry, hyper pure Springbanks. This one recalls that legendary OB 21yo 100 proof bottling from the 1960s we tried a couple of years back. 
SGP: 463 - 93 points. 

Springbank 28 yo 1966/1994 (55.6%, The Bottlers, cask #1018)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: orange marmalade and varnish, in the best sense! Resinous fir woods, camphor, beeswax, cedar wood boxes full of unlit cigars and Vegemite. A seriously umami and resinous style of sherry cask. Continues to open up with more mentholated notes of eucalyptus and dried mint, linseed oil, more hardwood resins, more camphor and cheng pi aged orange peels. With water: orange liqueur, herbal cocktail bitters, a top class Old Fashioned cocktail! Also some hints of stem ginger and apricot jam. Mouth: powerful arrival, very punchy, powerfully on dried oranges, bitter marmalade, quince jelly, some very old Armagnac and then wood spices and a slightly tannic edge that feels like strong brewed Darjeeling. Amazing orange notes throughout, but the wood does exert quite an influence. With water: big and emphatically waxy and peppery now, some natural tar extracts, wood resins, camphor, putty and lime leaf. Finish: long, peppery, waxy, slightly medicinal and some dark fruits stewed in old Armagnac. Comments: given the pedigree of both the distillate and the bottler, our expectations were probably set a little high. This is on the wood side, but it has some spectacular moments. Ach, who am I kidding, while it may not be up amongst the best 1960s Springbanks, it’s a great dram nonetheless. 
SGP: 462 - 90 points.

Hazelburn 15 yo ‘Online Tasting Week’ (54.9%, OB, Oloroso sherry casks, bottled 2021, 1174 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: a rather ‘Springbank’ style of sherry, which is earthy, ruddy, full of pickled walnuts, motor oil, game meats and funny things like mint tea, pork scratchings, liquorice root and old Madeira. It’s good though, I like this quite organic and meaty profile. With water: rounder, drier and more cohesive now. Lovely earthiness coming through, bitter dark chocolate, prunes in Armagnac and black pepper. Mouth: rather sweeter than expected, Bovril with bramble jam, ha! But indeed, it does have a rather jammy quality, cherry distillate with raspberry cordial, cassis and touches of boozy trifle, then with verbena and underlying notes of bitter herbs and a touch of gentian root. All the while there’s this background buzz of leathery, gamey sherry with many walnuts, rancio and balsamic notes. With water: excellent, gathers a little balancing dryness, more crushed walnuts, old balsamic, marzipan, wormwood, camphor, nutmeg and more big notes of prunes, date molasses and clove. Finish: long, earthy, many tertiary notes of roots, herbs, strongly brewed dark teas, liquorice and mulch tobacco leaf. Comments: not all Springbank sherry casks are on the mark, but this one works very well. Love the evolution with water. 
SGP: 561 - 89 points. 

Hazelburn 8 yo 1997/2006 (59.2%, OB Private Bottling, cask #1037, sherry)
Colour: deep reddish amber. Nose: wow, really a big mess of Bovril, Maggi, raspberry liqueur, chocolate sauce, mole, freshly sawn rosewood and many evolving tertiary notes such as old Burgundian Pinot Noir, mushroom powder and wintergreen. Extremely impressive! With water: a little juicer but also a rather thrilling salty side emerges too. Superbly umami, with bouillon, honey roast vegetables, more Maggi and game salami. Mouth: what a cask! Magnificent arrival, extremely textural and mouth-filling, dark chocolate sauce, date molasses, raisins, dark fruit compotes, cassis, natural tar, salted liquorice and treacle sponge pudding. This one really strikes the perfect balance between these jammy, fruitier components and the deeper, darker, earthier and gamey qualities that seem to present in Springbank’s sherry casks. With water: perfect balance of dryness, salinity and many dark fruits, also preserved citrus fruits, eucalyptus, menthol tobaccos and more treacle. Finish: long, more dark chocolate with sea salt, prunes, very old Fins Bois cognac and more treacle, Maggi and a growing rancio in the aftertaste. Comments: some sort of miraculous sherry cask, and a very lucky cask owner! What’s great is that you still feel some Springbank/Hazelburn character coming through. No doubt bottled at exactly the right age. 
SGP: 562 - 90 points. 

Rosebank 1991/2009 ‘Handfill’ (55.1%, The Whisky Exchange)
We kick off with a useless tasting note for a Rosebank bottling sold as a handfill, back in the ridiculously innocent days of 2009 when you could go to The Whisky Exchange shop at Vinopolis and buy Rosebank direct from the cask, probably for around £65 a bottle. Neither possible, or even legal now (possibly also illegal then too). Colour: pale gold. Nose: typically fresh and chiselled, all on chalk, limestone, pin-sharp citrus notes and hints of olive oil. As we discovered in a tasting at Whisky Live Paris the other week, Rosebank and Chichibu seem to share a lot of similarities, and nosing this is only re-affirming that impression to me. Very grassy, crisp notes of gooseberry and nettle coming through. With water: really on limestone, clay, vase water, white flowers and the most subtle note of wax. Mouth: hay, white flowers, more gooseberries and tart green apple. I’d also add that slight funk of cider apple, some lemon barley water and mirabelle eau de vie. Crisp, pin-sharp and very bright. With water: excellent combo of crisp, clean cereal notes, sunflower oil, hand cream and lemon rind. Finish: medium, flinty, rather mineral, chalky and continuing with white flowers and lemon peel. Comments: the customers of TWE Vinopolis never had it so good! Excellent, sharp and tense Rosebank. 
SGP: 551 - 88 points. 

Rosebank 21 yo 'The Roses, Edition 5, Fascination’ (49.5%, Specialty Drinks, Madeira cask, 633 bottles, bottled 2021)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: very proximate to the handfill, with these very crisp, pure notes of green apple, hay, white flower, pollen and things like vase water, clay, olive oil and even a slightly petrolic edge. Great freshness and sense of sharpness once again. Mouth: I find it a little rounder and fuller than the nose suggested, more oily, slightly sweeter and more on barley extracts, beers, heather honey and even a little camphor, perhaps this richer side comes from the Madeira influence. There’s even a little treacle, dried mint and something slightly salty and leathery. Good power once again. Finish: medium, with a continuation of these more rich, rounded and savoury/sweet balanced qualities that dominated the palate. Comments: very good, how long was it in madeira casks? It’s a bit of cask trickery that seems to have been very cleverly handled here. 
SGP: 561 - 89 points.