Springbank Substitutes III: Kilkerran 12yo, Amrut Fusion, Glen Garioch Renaissance 4th Chapter
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2022
- It's time for a third entry in the series wherein we try to find single malt whiskies that can scratch the enthusiast's itch for Springbank without their having to overpay for the real thing at the last store in town that actually has a bottle of the stuff. The first time around ( • Springbank Substitutes... ) it was Mortlach, Benromach, and Highland Park, and then it was a dive into my closet ( • Springbank Substitutes... ) with sherried Pulteney, peated Jura, and a rather magnificent Glen Scotia, all of them up against the ancient 10 Year Old 100 Proof that might be the last Springbank I'll ever buy at a reasonable price.
What have we got, then? First off, it's the most obvious (but also the most problematic) alternative of them all: Kilkerran. The Glengyle distillery is based in Campbeltown and it's owned and run by basically the same folks as Springbank, and it's good stuff (I already reviewed one of the heavily peated versions: • Mainland Peatparison: ... ); it's just that it also has the same importers and much the same outrageous over-demand. Next up, following the same lightly peated pattern that made me pick Benromach and Highland Park, we're leaving Scotland entirely to try out Amrut Fusion (made from a blend of Indian and heavily peated Scottish malt). And then I wanted to throw in a Glen Garioch, not only because the basic 12 year old is so damned good ( • Deanston 12 v. Arran 1... ) but because something in that 12's minerally, unroasted-nuts profile seemed like it would make a worthy comparison... except this time we're stepping up the age, from 12 to 18. And here's how it went, both in terms of absolute quality and with my own patented 1-10 Springbank Substitution Index score:
- Kilkerran 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Glengyle distillery; peated to 15 ppm, 70% ex-bourbon and 30% ex-sherry; bottled circa 2020; natural color, non-chillfiltered, 46% ABV), 88/100 and SSI 8.0/10
- Amrut Fusion Single Malt Whisky (Bangalore; Batch 70, bottled 6/2018; 50% ABV), 87/100 and SSI 7.0/10
-Glen Garioch "The Renaissance: 4th Chapter" 18 Year Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (bourbon and sherry casks; bottled circa 2019; 50.2% ABV), 90/100 and SSI 8.0/10
So none of these is knocking Benromach out of the SSI top spot, but there's plenty to talk about. First, the Fusion is a delight, and even if it comes last in this company it still feels like something malt fans should seek out as a dramatically different take on the category. Second, the Kilkerran is actually far less Springbanky than anticipated: the sheer heaviness of SB isn't there, and the peat and the bourbon casks are very much in charge. It's still an excellent bottle and exactly what nerds like me have been demanding for years, but for my palate it's probably more a Caol Ila substitute than a Springbank one. Third, the Renaissance 4 is an absolute steal for what it is... and like the GG12, it's got a Springbanky sort of "vibe" to it while having very much its own profile. All good, fun lineup, and next week we're back to rums again!
Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon ( / differentspirits ) -
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Thanks, Scott. This is really useful, given the current woes with J & A Mitchell supply/price. A Kilkerran consignment to my shores this week sold out within 1 minute. I got me a bottle but I fear I have fractured my finger clicking the mouse! As recently as 2018/19 I could walk into my local specialist store and find the Springbank core range along with an open bottle of the 10YO for customer tasting. Alack the day.
I'm guessing a few years ago a handful of impossibly rich people wrote multi-million dollar checks to their FAs or fund managers telling them to take a big stake in Springbank and associated whiskies, and here we are.
I really appreciate all of these suggestions!
Thanks! Just doing my job. 😁
As always a very informative and enjoyable video. The worst thing I ever did on my spirit journey was taste Springbank 10. Because I'm always searching for the hit. Being in Australia, the only place you can get it is in high end bars.....$25 dollars for 30ml....&$#@ off.
Anyway, my Springbank alternatives are Loch Lomond 12 and 18, also like you, I feel Amrut Fusion is an exemplary alternative to dear Springbank.
Have a good one
Precisely the reason for this here series, dear sir!! 😁 Thanks for the kind words.
Great vid. Springbank only makes whisky for four months out of the year. The distillery could literally make three times more whisky. The staff goes over to Kilkerran for part of that time, but still. What a crime to let Springbank's stills just sit there out of production for so long per year. There are plenty of folks in Campbeltown that would love to work at Springbank and could use the money. So why is this being done? Certainly more warehouses could be built. So it's not a storage issue. The Loch wouldn't dry up, plenty of water. All I can figure is that it's a tax thing. Maybe the distillery gets taxed less by the crown if it doesn't move up into the "big time" in terms of production. Speaking of the crown, I would be willing to bet that Laphroaig gets tax breaks, seeing as how it is owned by . . . the crown.
The hardest bottleneck to get through with Springbank is probably the barley and the maltings. The still only runs part of the year, yes, but iirc that's mostly because the same staff is busy filling up the malt bins during the other part. They could just buy malt elsewhere, of course, but then it's not the same Springbank; they could try to expand their own malting work and source more barley (and, again iirc, they're doing some of that), but that too has to be up to the standards of the local farmers they already use. Part of the nature of high-quality artisanal production is that it's hard to scale up.
Kilkerran is probably the only literal Springbank substitute, given their production and ownership... but I kinda get where you're going with the "vibe" thing. These other malts may never be *mistaken* for Springbank, but they give us the same thing: an interesting, weighty, complex, and characterful distillate which provides the geeky whisky brain enough to sink its teeth into. Benromach, Glen Garioch, Ben Nevis, etc. can all do that, at least.
Funny you mention Ben Nevis... 😁
As a future entry into Springbank Substitutes, I nominate Ledaig 18. Aside from the smoky-fruity thing, Ledaig approximates Springbank's fattiness very well too
That's not a bad idea, and it's a bottle I'd love to have in any case! 😁
Glen Scotias can be sort of an approximation. You're not really going to find another whisky that tastes like Campbeltown from another region. The water is what does it. All of the major distilleries in Campbeltown use the same water. Longrow is easier to approximate elsewhere. But not Springbank, IMO. It's hard to match, aside from Kilkerran and sometimes Glen Scotia. I used to get Kilkerrans for that reason when they were cheaper. Now, it's hopeless. I generally find that Kilkerrans have more of a concrete flavor due to the way they are stored on concrete floors. Springbank still uses some dunage warehouses with dirt floors.
Go try you some Benromach though...
What do you consider an appropriate price to pay for Springbank 10? I actually saw it on the shelf recently for $100 and passed it up... of course it was all gone a few days later.
For the level of quality that the standard SB10 brings I'd call sixty bucks a good price, eighty bucks a reasonable price. And for a hundo I'm scratching my itch elsewhere (whence this series).
completely agree on Kilkerran. Really good, but not special. Dare I say a little bit boring? 88/100 at its best. I actually prefer Caol Ila, but I'm not talking about official bottlings.
Right, I think that's part of the appeal here: Caol Ila doesn't have an OB presented anywhere near this well. (That said, Caol Ila still exists on the shelves, so there's that )
[ hearing ur fan going hard in the background there, ha ha, would u mind a suggestion. set your [processor / system cooling policy] in ur power plan settings -- advanced power settings to ' passive '. see if it helps. ]
if you haven't tried it already
works pretty super for me @ my end.
( felt need to comment, will delete this later )
Dang it! Every other video, a new audio problem to fix... 😅
@@differentspirits4157 * in order to turn the fan itself down that is. I also set my maximum processor state to somewhere below 100%, in the same settings menu there.
. . is what i meant.
May or may not have an impact. My fan hardly ever kicks in at all with these settings.
Again that's your power plan settings, advanced settings .