If you've ever been to Cadenhead's shop in Campbeltown you will have had a look in The Cage, a simple wooden cupboard with chicken wire doors and a padlock - you can look but you can't touch!
A small Vintners was founded in 1842 in Netherkirkgate in Aberdeen
by George Duncan, he was joined in 1852 by his brother-in-law
William Cadenhead. William took over the business in 1858 and renamed it
William Cadenhead Limited, Wine and Spirit Merchants.
It traded for 130 years before being taken over by Springbank Distillery
owners J & A Mitchell & Co. Ltd in 1972. The shop was moved to
Campbeltown.
The Cage used to be situated at the very back of the shop in a small room
that served as the tasting room for distillery visitors but early in 2020 it
moved into the main part of the shop.
Note: As of May 2021 the Cage has moved into the Springbank Distillery Visitor's Shop.
The Cage holds a selection of Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn duty paid
cask samples from the Springbank Warehouses, each a unique, probably never
to be repeated, bottle. There's no tasting notes, no box, nothing but a simple hand written label.
Once you've spotted one you like, you can 'sign it out' in the book and take
it home to enjoy!
@JWBassman_ signing for a bottle during #BlindTastingOnTour
I've bought a few bottles in my time, each unique, it's the easiest way to get
your hands on a single cask Springbank.
Let's see what they are like:
| Dram | Springbank 2001 17yo Single Cask 634 |
Springbank 2007 12yo Single Cask 186 |
Springbank 2007 10yo Single Cask 218 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | 53.3% ABV, Natural colour, NCF |
57.1% ABV, Natural colour, NCF |
58.8% ABV, Natural colour, NCF |
| Bottler info |
D: 6 Nov '01 Fresh Bourbon Barrel Warehouse 5, Rotation 634 B: 11 Sep '19 |
D: 21 Sep '07 Fresh Sherry Hogshead Warehouse 5, Rotation 186 B: 17 Aug '20 |
D: 2 Oct'07 Fresh Sherry Butt Warehouse 15, Rotation 218 B: '17 |
| My thoughts: | |||
| Appearance |  |
||
| Pale gold in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass, small beads form slowly and fall as slow thin legs. | Mid gold in the glass, swirls again leave a hairline crack in the glass which immediately forms beads which fall as slow thin oily legs. | Mid gold in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack on the glass slowly beading up to form an inverted crown before eventually falling as slow thin legs. | |
| Nose | The ABV attacks first with a little smoke and some herbal grassy notes following on behind. A little time and air offers orange zest, briny seaweed, caramelized sugar and vanilla custard notes. A few more minutes and you're rewarded with baked apples covered in runny honey. |
Dunnage warehouse in a glass - damp musty notes - walnuts, dried fruit, dates and figs - a sherry bomb! A little time and air offers dark chocolate, coffee and malt notes. There is a hint of the distillery character - maritime herbal notes a little citrus but you have to go searching for it. |
Sweet fruit - dates, prunes, dried fruit and strawberry jam. Christmas spices ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. The baked apples and honey along with the maritime and citrus from the 634 are here too - easier to find than in the 186. The larger butt putting this nose somewhere between the bourbon barrel and sherry hogshead. |
| Palate | Sweet oily arrival, honey, juicy orchard fruit - plums, apricots, peaches. The ABV is there but not as strong as on the nose. It's a little industrial, dirty even, not like a Ledaig but like a little backstreet workshop - a spicy burn of wood tannins and nutmeg add some complexity. Vanilla custard and orchard fruit are there to be found and that hint of citrus zest as the liquid disappears. Syrupy notes stick to the tongue leaving a dryness, all wrapped up with a little hint of peat smoke. |
Thick syrupy arrival, a little sweetness but then immediately spicy and dry. As suggested by the nose this is a sherry bomb in all but colour - dried fruits, black cherries, dates, figs. Each sip strips more moisture from your mouth but rewards you with flavour! The chocolate and coffee notes are intense - dark chocolate, burnt coffee. All of the distillery character has been stripped away, no oiliness, no citrus and little in the way of salinity. Spicy ginger and smoke help to dry as the liquid disappears. |
Smooth creamy arrival, sweet and spicy like 186, huge dark chocolate notes again give a drying effect. There's berries and orchard fruit here as well as the dried fruit and strawberry jam I associate with sherry. Walnuts offer a change from the 186 but there's is a little of the oily industrial notes of the 634. Somewhere in between the two maybe? There's not as much spice as either of the previous two though. Coffee and smoke fill in the gaps and if you think hard enough a like sour grapefruit to add that citrus element. |
| Finish | Sweet honey and orchard fruit, a little ginger spice and a hint of smoke. Yummy! |
Spicy ginger, dried fruit and thick strawberry jam with a note of smoke. | Dark chocolate, dried fruit and smoke. |
| Overall | 634 is 'plain' Springbank - cask strength matured in an ex-bourbon barrel - distillery character you might say and you'd be right - oily maritime notes with orchard fruit sweetness and a burst of citrus. 186 is a lot younger, the sherry hogshead (c250 litres) imparting huge Christmas notes on the whisky - a sherry bomb without the colour. Huge spice notes and dried fruit replacing the orchard fruit and citrus. The smoke seemed a little stronger too. 218 is a a little older than the 186 and matured in a much larger sherry butt (c500 litres) so you'd expect less of the sherry influence and that's what you get, this isn't a sherry bomb like the 186. It's half way in-between, better balanced and sharing characteristics of both previous drams. Maybe I tried these in the wrong order, 218 should have followed 186 to show a progressing away from the 'plain' spirit of the 634, but to be honest going back to a slightly most subdued 218 after the 186 helped to balance the evening. These drams have lots in common but a key one is complexity - they deserve time, both in the glass and in the bottle - I poured them half an hour before I started nosing them - allowing the air to mix - the whole review took about 2 hours. Spending time with a dram rewards you, opening up and revealing more of itself. As the bottle goes down and air is allowed to mix, the whisky on your shelf develops - new notes or changes of intensity will be offered with each repeat tasting. It's difficult to pick a favourite as the ex-bourbon barrel and sherry hogshead were at different end of the spectrum, I wouldn't say go for the sherry hogshead as you'd miss the ex-bourbon treats - just get 1 of each, compare them and let me know what you think! Unless you've had a sample of one of these from me it's very unlikely you'll ever get to try them, each is unique, but.... if you are ever in Campbeltown a visit to The Cage is a must! The Cage normally has bottles for sale unless you visit, like the BlindTasting gang did, just as a coach load of Swedes are leaving..... |
||
Note: As of May 2021 the Cage has moved into the Springbank Distillery Visitor's Shop.
Geeky Stuff:
Cadenhead's Warehouse Samples use a simple label identifying the contents:- Warehouse number
- Rotation No. : Cask number
- Make : Springbank / Longrow / Hazelburn and a code to identify the cask type e.g. FS HHD - see tables below
- Contents : bottle volume
- Strength : ABV
- Date bottled
- Age
| Code Pt1 | Cask type | Code Pt1 | Cask type |
|---|---|---|---|
| FB | Fresh Bourbon | RB | Refill Bourbon |
| FS | Fresh Sherry | RS | Refill Sherry |
| FP | Fresh Port | RP | Refill Port |
| FR | Fresh Rum | RR | Refill Rum |
| Code Pt2 | Cask size |
|---|---|
| BRL | Barrel |
| HHD | Hogshead |
| BUTT | Butt |
A small bottle neck tag declares Campbeltown Malts on one side and the Bottling Date and Approval Signature on the rear, in this case Distillery Manager Gavin Mclachlan.
Springbank Warehouses
If you've visited Springbank Distillery you'll know that all of their warehouses are on site, surrounding the Still Room, New warehouses have been built recently on the land in between the distillery and it's Glengyle neighbour.
No. 3 Bond in the long dunnage warehouse you visit on a tour.
No. 9 Bond is used for Cadenhead's Warehouse Tastings.
I've tried to label them as best I can from memory and photos but any help in fixing errors / omissions would be appreciated!
 |
| Warehouse location - click to open full screen |
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