Springbank 12 Year Old Cask Strength — Batch 28 (2025 Release)

Batch 28 — What makes this release significant
The 12 Year Old Cask Strength series was introduced in 2010 and is now released twice a year. Batch 28 is notable within the series: this is the first batch to use 100% bourbon casks since 2021. Previous releases have blended bourbon, sherry, and rum casks — so this edition is a purer, more focused expression of what Springbank's spirit does when given space to breathe without sherry's richness or rum's exotic sweetness coming into play. It is bottled at 55.5% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural in colour.
 
The Distillery
Springbank occupies a position in Scotch whisky that is essentially without parallel. Founded in 1828 in Campbeltown — once the whisky capital of the world — it remains Scotland's oldest independent family distillery, still owned and run by the Mitchell family nearly two centuries on. What sets Springbank apart is not just age or heritage, but a commitment to doing almost everything in-house that the rest of the industry long ago outsourced: around 30% of their barley is floor-malted on site, distillation runs two and a half times (a process unique to Springbank itself), and every bottle is hand-filled, labelled, and waxed at the distillery. There is no corporate override here, no efficiency drive. The whisky is made the way it has always been made, and that is precisely why it tastes the way it does.
Campbeltown itself sits on a remote peninsula on the west coast of Scotland, battered by Atlantic weather and steeped in brine. That maritime DNA is present in every bottle.
 
TASTING NOTES
Nose: Bright fruit salad candies, raspberry ripple, dried mango, and cake frosting, all grounded by a subtle thread of dark chocolate. With time in the glass, butterscotch, waxy lemon rind, vanilla sponge cake, and earthy, dunnagey notes emerge in the background, alongside cocoa nibs and hints of tropical fruit. The hallmark Springbank maritime minerality runs quietly beneath everything — never absent, always present.
Palate: Smoked cayenne and crushed chillies meet toffee and a hint of charred steak, delivering a bold, evolving character. There is a lovely creamy texture on the first sip — the full bourbon maturation giving the spirit a rounded, almost pillowy body that is unusual at this strength. Salted caramel builds through the mid-palate, with candied ginger warmth and a characteristic oiliness that is pure Campbeltown. 
Finish: A gentle rise of peat smoke carries through to the close, joined by pink grapefruit, cocoa powder, glazed cherries, and salted pretzels. Long, saline, and deeply satisfying.