Springbank 15 year old

Springbank 15 year old is single malt Scotch whisky that is aged in ex-sherry casks for at least 15 years, before being bottled at 46% alcohol by volume.

David Allan of the Springbank distillery says that Springbank 15 year old is matured in ‘ex oloroso sherry casks …which come from Miguel Martin in Jerez, Spain’. Despite the casks being from Spain, Allan clarifies that ‘a lot of wood used for sherry casks is actually American oak’.

Choosing the right sherry casks is vital to Springbank’s taste. If Springbak chooses the wrong cask, it will taint the spirit with undesirable off-notes and flavours. Allan says that Springbank selects the right cask by the way it looks and smells. He says:

Suitability [of casks] would initially be down to how the cask looks – is it water tight with no damage to its staves, bung hole, head etc. After that we would look at organoleptic properties – does the cask have any aromas that would suggest off flavours or undesirable characteristics that could negatively impact the spirit? If so we would reject that [cask]. While the ageing of spirit is scientific, there are also large parts that are still an ‘art’ so the whisky is monitored as it ages.