Springbank C.V. is a vatting of 7, 10 and 14 years old whisky from different casks (bourbon, sherry and port wine), all specially selected by Director of Production Frank McHardy and Distillery Manager Stuart Robertson.

Springbank CV (46%, OB 2010)

Nose: quite a whirlpool of different aromas. I detected at least three layers. One has grainy notes, oatmeal, sesame oil and sour yoghurt. For me, these notes are a little ungraceful. A second one shows nice soot and subtle peat. A final layer has some sweet sherry notes, almonds and eucalyptus (unfortunately all quite subdued). Too bad the layers are not very integrated – there’s a lot going on but in the end nothing stands out in a nice way. Mouth: quite some sweetness with dark caramel (the Port casks?) as a common thread for the whole profile. Pepper and other spices. Again subtle peat. A briney hint of liquorice with a distinct bitter tang in the end. Finish: more liquorice and caramel with a hint of smoke.

If C.V. stands for Curriculum Vitae, then this employee seems to have done a bunch of things in his career, but nothing really well. Not exactly harmonious and not my kind of dram. Springbank has many better choices in its current range. Around € 35.

Score: 75/100