Springbank CV

I had once tasted the Longrow CV with rather good impressions, and when I ran into this Springbank version at a whisky shop in London’s Soho, I decided to give it a try. I was told that the Longrow CV is a vatting of 6, 10 and 14 year old whiskys matured in bourbon, sherry and rum barrels (don’t know which for how long though). I suspect this Springbank is a similar case.

In the nose you will immediately notice that there is more than one type of cask involved. The most identifiable notes are those of sweet exotic fruits and subtle smoke. A few drops of water and a good 15 minutes under a cover in the glass will emphasize the fruitiness and the smoke will settle to the background. Now you can start to pick more distinct aromas: overly ripe banana, some oaky barley and faint nutty elements as well, almonds perhaps. Somehow this nose reminds me of a South East Asian market, with people roasting the most peculiar things on open fire and selling freshly picked exotic fruit.

The palate is a remarkably identifiable copy of the nose, same aromas coating the mouth pleasantly and smoothly. The arrival is steadily growing, but the development of flavors is unfortunately a bit short. The sweet fruity notes are more mixed together, combined with the barley sugar and smoke.

The finish is also quite swift. It doesn’t die suddenly, but it quickly fades away leaving the faint smoky aromas on the tongue. I think the finish really reveals that most of this whisky is fairly young. Don’t know it for a fact but that’s what I would suspect.

All in all it’s not a bad whisky, especially for the price (I think I paid around 40€ for this). It’s not the most complex whisky out there, and the cask influence is heavy here leaving little room for the distilled spirit. I would maybe recommend this to a whisky drinker who hasn’t yet been into whiskies for too long, but wants to try something new after the good’ol Ardbeg 10 and Glenfiddich. It’s smooth, a bit different and not too complex.

Find where to buy Springbank whisky