Springbank 1998 Cooper's Choice Sherry Cask Review

Hi everyone,

Ah, Sherried Springbank. That’s the dream right? You don’t need much of the 12yo cask strength or 15 to realise that Springbank is quite a different beast in Sherry casks.

Then there’s the indies, which often take things to a new level.

Independently bottled Springbank isn’t often seen, and when it is, it’s usually very expensive but they are about.

I had the great pleasure of chatting with Andrew, the MD of Cooper’s Choice, after the festival we were at in The Haig and we were chatting about whisky and sourcing casks, etc. Lovely guy, Cooper’s Choice is very small and family owned, and we normally see quality coming from that.

Springbank 1998 Cooper's Choice 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: A funky Springer. Dirty Sherry, dark plum and fig, dark chocolate, espresso, slightly meaty and sooty. There's some unripe mango which feels a little out of place.

Taste: Intense! God knows what kind of monster this would have been at cask strength! Mineral and sooty, then very fruity, plum, fig and date, dark chocolate, ginger. Quite a peaty one to start and then gets softer and softer.

Finish: Medium length. Very soft, easy, plum and some spice. Lacking a little complexity here.

Refill Sherry cask. Bottled at 18yo. This is mega expensive too if you can find it. Like £300 expensive. Great whisky but a tad out of place in places.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #537

Whisky Network Review #632

Network Average: 74.5

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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