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A Springbank from Claxton’s
Getting hold of a Springbank single malt has become something of a challenge these days. Even the standard 10-year-old is thin on the ground. Imagine how rarely a 29-year-old single cask comes along. That’s exactly what independent bottler Claxton’s has managed to source, however, and what’s more, they very kindly sent me a wee sample to try out.
Claxton’s was established in 2015 by Father and Son Adrian and Jack Hoose, of Yorkshire. The original plan was to source casks of Scotch whisky, bottle them and sell predominantly to the Chinese market. That plan has evolved, though. Now Claxton’s Whiskies are widely available in their home market as well.
The Unicorn Series is a new concept from Claxton’s involving rare casks that have, for one reason or another, lost some of their contents. The maturation of Scotch whisky isn’t an exact science and sometimes, oak casks aren’t quite as water-tight as they should be. Other times, a lengthy spell in the cask has led to massive evaporation – some angels take a greedier share than others. For Claxton’s, such instances present an opportunity. The whiskies are bottled as they are, often in very small numbers and at fairly competitive prices.
The dram I’m tasting today came from one of those casks. It was distilled at Springbank in 1993 and aged for 29 years before being bottled at 46.9% – which does seem to suggest a fair bit of evaporation. This bottling was about as limited as it gets with just 17 bottles ever available.
Sampling Springbank is never a hard task but it has become something of a rare event for me. I like Springbank (a lot!) but my whisky world doesn’t begin and end with it, the way it seems to do for so many. Indeed, the rarer the whisky becomes, the more “lifelong” fans keep appearing. The whole hard-to-find bottle thing just isn’t a game I particularly like to play, however. There’s just too much whisky out there to lose any sleep over missing a dram. Even one as good as Springbank.
What a lovely thing then, to be able to try this Claxton’s release.
*Full disclosure: as stated above, the whisky featured in this article was sent to me free of charge. As always, I will strive to give an honest opinion on the quality of the dram and the value for money it represents.
The Whisky
Smell: Oaky (as you’d expect from a 29-year-old) with spices like nutmeg and clove. Orange liqueur. Dark chocolate. Coffee beans. Conkers. Toffee apples. There’s a wee barbecue coal/charcoal note in there too. Also a lighter side with a sort of zing that lifts out the glass. It’s almost fizzy on the nostrils. Old-fashioned sweet shops. Pear drops and barley sugars. It seems to get lighter the longer it sits in the glass. Lemon drizzle cake now. The tiniest wee hint of peat.
Taste: A lot of the notes I picked up on the nose carry through in the flavour. There’s lots of astringent oak down the middle with some livelier stuff around the edges. There’s toffee and caramel. There’s cinnamon. There’s black pepper. There’s citrus. The charcoal note is there toward the back. Even a wee blast of currants as it goes down the hatch. The finish is oaky but not too dry and there’s a suggestion of old, lingering smoke.
Thoughts: I try my best to be impartial and objective when writing reviews but I’m only human (allegedly) and therefore, can’t ever be totally unbiased. I knew that on paper, this was an absolute cracker but I had to try to put that to one side and form an opinion based on what I found in the glass. What I found in the glass, however, was exceptional. Each sip turned into a moment spent in silent bliss and when one moment passed I steadied myself to go back and try again. Hoping to find a flaw, or something I could critique. An hour later, I sat staring at the empty glass with nothing but nice things to write. This is the sort of dram that justifies the ridiculous romantic notions this hobby inspires. It’s a dram that repays you for all the love you’ve shown whisky over the years. A dram you’ll remember. It is absolute top-tier Scotch whisky. Brilliant.
Price: £450. That may not seem a bargain and it’s certainly not the kind of money I like to spend on consumables but for a wee bit of context, the official 30-year-old release comes in at close to £900 a bottle. Which makes this Claxton’s release, by the standards of today’s market, very well priced.
For more about Claxton’s visit here
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