When you get into whiskey, or anything for that matter, you find some of your favorites and you develop some form of brand loyalty. Weird how that works, brand loyalty. I mean why do we care so much that I may drive a Ford and you drive such a shitty piece of junk like a Chevy, despite the vehicles being pretty much the same and the fact that no one is receiving any sort of residuals based on their loyalty. I guess it is just human nature to identify with certain things like brands. We think they represent or personify certain characteristics we as individuals have.

Or whatever. I’m getting off track here.

Anyway, I like all whiskey drinkers, have a ‘spirit’ distillery (pun intended). And my spirit distillery is…………..

Springbank.

Ever heard of it? If so, awesome! If not, I’ll give you a bit of the deets for ya:

• Springbank is located in the Campbeltown region of Scotland. Right here:

• This used to be the center of the Scotch universe years ago, but fluctuating economies through the years forced many of these distilleries out of business. Now most of the current distilleries are in the Speyside region.

• Springbank is only 1 of 3 distilleries in this region. They still adhere to the old school ways of making scotch, using as little automation as possible and the entire distilling process is carried at their site.

• Their product is as pure as possible; non-chilled filtered and no added coloring.

Yes, you can imagine that this kind of attention to the old ways makes this distillery a very well respected one across the whiskey nerds. And yes, it is. But the really reason why it is my spirit distillery is the actual taste of the product; it is amazing.

Now not everyone likes them as much as I do. In fact there are people that do not like them much at all. There is a famous tasting note in Springbank called the ‘Springbank funk’ that can either turn you on or off to it. It is like a rubbery, burnt car tire note (this is probably due to the way they kiln the malt). Not everyone loves it. But I do. And most do as well because it is one of the hottest bottles in Scotland. Springbank is a bit like Pappy Van Winkle here in the USA; rareness, quality, and cache will produce big surges in price.

But luckily for us here, Springbank is not too hard to find. But the price tag can be high.

So enough with the background, let’s taste it:

Nose: Orchard fruits, rubbery scent, a faint bit of peat in the back. There are a lot of flavors that come through the nose.

Taste: Bam!! Crazy fruit notes; apples, pears, and other assorted tropical fruits. After the initial crescendo of fruit flavors, a rubber malt enters in and adds to the complexity. A sparkling of peat in the background the entire time waving ‘hello, I know you love those big fruit flavors, but don’t you forget about me’.

Finish: Medium. Being only a 10 year scotch, you cannot expect too long of a finish. That ‘Springbank funk’ has a bit of a lasting flair, but the finish does not spill into any other drinks you may have that night.

This is the whiskey that completely surprised me when I first had it. IT comes in a very modest bottle and box and is not nearly as famous as other brands. The contrasting flavors, the incredibly well-balanced nature of this dram, the complexity of it all truly makes this my spirit distillery.

You can get this bottle from anywhere between 60-80. I would go with the 60 I found online over the 80 because it is 20 cheaper. Anyway, I know that may be more than you want to shell out for a bottle, so try it first at your local tavern on a Whiskey Wednesday. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.