Review 267. Springbank Local Barley 8 year old 2024 release

Spoiled rotten!

Variety is the spice of life. And seeing how whisky is the water of life, it only makes sense to try and bring some spice in to your aqua vitae as well. For me at least. Whenever the occasional and unavoidable question is thrown at me as to what my favourite whisky is, I never ever manage to give a straightforward and to the point answer. A ‘favourite’ whisky isn’t something like a favourite sports team after all, where often bonds and ties are ‘locked in’ through locality and proximity, heritage or players and personalities.

My go to answer tends to be ‘it depends on the mood’, and that at least is mostly truthful and as honest an answer I could hope to give. But it doesn’t completely cover things, I reckon. Moods indeed change and that variable alone ‘justifies’ or at least partly explains to a certain degree why there are so many bottles stashed in the liquor cabinet. The other reason being ‘promiscuity’ – a word which in this case needs to be read as a combination of ‘curiosity’ and ‘eagerness’ to explore as much as possible what is out there. But even if you combine both explanations to our whisky purchasing, we can’t deny that we tend to gravitate towards certain brands more than to others. As ‘volatile’ as moods can be, there’s no denying how  preferences that were built over the years have us leaning towards certain ‘styles’ of whiskies, which in turn makes us selective when going out bottle hunting.

And, let’s face it, in today’s market a lot of distilleries are capable of catering across the board in terms of flavour profiles. Take a distillery like Glengyle, which can offer subtle delights like the Kilkerran 12, complexity with their 16, as well as absolute peat bombs with the ‘Peat in progress’ releases  and anything in between with their cask strength 8 year old releases. The same applies for Glen Scotia, Benromach, Bruichladddich, … and don’t even get me started on Loch Lomond, which is like a fun park for any alchemist/master distiller worth their salt.

And let’s not forget Springbank. With Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn it has three different brands under the same roof, each in turn capable of creating a Smorgasbord of flavour styles. The ‘whisky drinker’s whisky’ distillery tops the list of ‘personal favourites’ for many enthusiasts. And with good cause.

Springbank local barley 8 yo. 2024 release. 50% sherry, 50% bourbon casks. Natural colour, unchill filtered; 58.1% ABV. RRP around £70-£80 (€80-€90) but good luck with that...

If we were to play of ‘never have I ever’ I would walk away without so much as a scratch when asked if I ‘ever owned a bottle of Springbank Local Barley’. While I count my blessings as at least 2 or 3 of my go to stores regularly have some Springbank available at MSRP (usually the 10, alongside Longrow’s NAS and occasionally a Hazelburn), I’ve never had the chance of finding one of their illustrious Local Barley expressions. Neither have I ever even tried/bothered with finding one on-line or through secondary / auction, as I would soon run out of kidneys to sell in order to secure one.

I did however, get to try a  few in the past and, pitchforks ready please, I didn’t always understand the hype, to be honest. Not that they were bad or disappointing, but the 2 (think they were a 16 and a 13 year old if memory serves me right) didn’t particularly stand out from the ‘regular’ Springbank expressions I was and am more familiar with. Which, of course, means that they were absolutely solid in their own right, because, well, you know: it’s Springbank! Seeing how I don’t tend to chase particular expressions or bottles but am usually more than happy ‘to make do’ with what’s available, I ‘m not in a hurry to go full Davy Crockett on these releases. That said, I am very, very grateful when the gentleman that is Nic Stilton-Massey provided me with a (generous) sample of this…

Nose

Ooph! The Campbeltown  funk is real (and strong) in this one! Wet wood and autumnal forest notes. Oily and waxy and vegetal-farmy. Underneath a hint of earthy peat. It’s both rich and vibrant yet also understated and layered-subtle at the same time. And absolutely gorgeous.

Palate

Peaty – earthy – woody – funky  - farmy all in one go on the arrival! Only then those 58.1% of alcohol come rolling in, almost gate crashing the party. Tame it with a bit of water and that oily-waxy element from the nose returns. Also I’m now picking up dark vanilla notes I didn’t really spot earlier on. This is excellent!

Finish

Long, peppery-spicy and wood

Final thoughts

Splendid whisky! A good age too for this one to shine in all its glory as the balance between cask and spirit is flawless. If ever there is a distillery capable of proving that whisky with a single digit age statement on the label  can be a stunner, it’s likely to be Springbank (or its sister Glenglyle, because, hello, Kilkerran 8!) …

 As said above, I’m not one for chasing down particular bottles, and until now I was more than happy to just jump on the occasion of tasting one of the Local Barley releases from Springbank. Mainly because the few I tried before seemed not to stand out from all the other usually very good stuff Springbank (in whatever incarnation, shape or form) has to offer. This however does bring something unique and special to the table. It’s a s if the Campbeltown funk has been dialed up a notch and me being a bit of a sucker for that umami-like characteristics, I may from here on not be as casual or unbothered about the Local Barley releases as I used to be. Again a massive thanks to Nic for providing the sample and consequently  causing  a crack in my usually so solid fomo proof armor.