1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years Review

This 1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years was my birthday bottle back in March of 2020. An ominous month in human history, but instead of 2020, I want to focus on 1995. I don’t know about you, but when I think about the number in the abstract, it doesn’t feel that long ago… but it was […]

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1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years Review

In 1995 I was 14 and my family moved to a tiny town in Wyoming. Cobbled together out of trailer parks, horse corrals and out-of-place new construction this mining town would be my life till I turned 18 and left. To pass the time between 95 and 99 I spent as much time as possible fishing at the Green River.

I hated living in that town and I hated being in school, it was that awkward angst-filled time of life and being in a small boring town didn’t help. While I was fishing, catching crawdads and focusing every spare thought on just getting the hell out of that place, the folks at Springbank were distilling this. Two timelines that would eventually converge in LA.

25 years after distilling, this whisky and I would meet for the first time while quarantined in my apartment in Los Angeles during a global pandemic. Purchased as my splurge-worthy birthday bottle, and it was worth it. From LA, this bottle would be moved to Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains and then to DC.

And here, in my new apartment in downtown Washington DC, the 1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years meets its end while I’m writing these words. 1,900 miles, two decades and a lifetime away from 1995.

Let’s get to drinkin’!

1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years – Details and Tasting Notes

Whiskey Details

Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color

Style: Single Malt (Scotch)
Region: Campbeltown, Scotland
Distiller: Springbank

Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: Refill Hogshead (ex-Bourbon)
Age: 22 Years
ABV: 52.5%

Cask: HL15295
Bottle:105/108

1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years Price: NA – Auction, Specialty Store or Private Seller

White background tasting shot with the 1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years bottle and a glass of whiskey next to it. — “This stupendous example of Scotland’s most (read ONLY) old-style distillery is a true wonder.” – K&L

1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years Tasting Notes

EYE
Golden honey

NOSE
Waxy honeycomb, vanilla, malty sweetness, complex orchard fruit, banana, caramel, roasted nuts and touches of cinnamon, funk and smoke.

Crisp and warm, I don’t want to stop sniffing this Scotch, it’s elegant and fun.

PALATE
Honey, cinnamon, oak, orchard fruit, roasted nuts, smoke, citrus peel and caramel with touches of clove, Canadain Mint, funk and nutmeg.

This is one of the most spiced (baking) Springbanks I’ve ever had, it’s wild.

FINISH
Long -> Banana chips, oak, baking spice and malty sweetness fade to vanilla and caramel.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Fantastic balance, full round body, and a heavy oily feel.

1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years – Overall Thoughts and Score

Damn… this is good. There is nothing at all wrong with this whisky, it’s a near-perfect Springbank, the only thing missing is that all-too-familiar funk. It’s there, but it’s so light it’s easy to miss and I kinda miss it. It’s a funk I’ve called out in numerous blind tastings and is the distillery’s calling card. This whisky is complex, fruity, earthy, sweet and a touch savory, but it isn’t funky and I want the funk.

This is so dang close to a 5/5, but I just can’t bring myself to give it that score and if I have any doubts I don’t hand out the ranking. Though there is no doubt about saying this is an absolutely stellar whisky and among the best Springbanks I’ve ever had. If you were lucky enough to score a bottle of this 1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years I hope you enjoy it slowly over many years like I was lucky enough to do.

SCORE: 4.5/5 (very good, highly recommended ~ A- | 90-93)

1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years Review $NA

Overall

4.5

Nose

(4.5)
Palate

(4.5)
Finish

(4.5)
BBF

(4.5)

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1995 Sovereign Springbank 22 Years Side Label

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1995 John Milroy Glen Grant 23 Years Review

This bottle of 1995 John Milroy Glen Grant 23 Years was supposed to be opened in March of 2020… and then the world came to pause. It was supposed to be opened for a Malt Nuts Glen Grant tasting event and instead it went back into the closet. It was then moved to the mountains […]

The post 1995 John Milroy Glen Grant 23 Years Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.

1995 John Milroy Glen Grant 23 Years Review

Our Malt Nuts: New and Old Glen Grant Tasting was our first in-person tasting since the beginning of COVID and we felt doing our first canceled tasting was a poetic way to bring us back together. And now, several months later, I’m revisiting this whisky to give it the respect it deserves with a dedicated, official review.

If you read the Malt Nuts post already, or snuck a peek at it from the link above, you already know I thought this was one of the best whiskies from that evening. But the addition of air, time and tasting it alone can shift perception a bit. So to really understand this whisky I need to sit at home, watch the fog roll in through trees like it is now, and get to drinkin’. Here we go.