More Springbank 'Cage' Bottles

I've reviewed some Cage bottles before here, this time I'm back with a pair of Springbank, a Hazelburn and a pair of Longrows thanks to the ever generous Callum & Kate!

Let's see what they are like!

The Cage used to be situated at the very back of the Cadenhead 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, then in May 2021 the Cage was moved into the Springbank Distillery Visitor's Shop.

The Cage used to hold 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.

But Springbank don't call them Cage bottles anymore, where previously they were one off bottles now they bottle the whole cask. The cask is no more but there are a selection of bottles in a mini cage!

Let's see what Callum & Kate's are like:

Dram	Springbank 2011 12yo Single Cask #W7R463	Springbank 2016 7yo Single Cask #W5R312	Hazelburn 2017 6yo Single Cask #W7R2	Longrow 2006 16yo Single Cask #W15R570	Longrow 2015 8yo Single Cask #W5R2
Characteristics	Fresh Bourbon 57.8% ABV	Refill Burgundy 58.9% ABV	Fresh Bourbon 56.5% ABV	Fresh Madeira 48.5% ABV	Fresh Sherry 58.2% ABV
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thick legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Orange zest and toffee notes with a little mustiness to start. Some rum & raisin ice cream with some gentle smoke and some salinity.	This is a less intense version of the bourbon cask with some berry notes thrown in for good measure. There's a creaminess like those Campino sweets.	Musty dunnage funk to start, vanilla ice cream and honey. Some fresh fruit, cereal, citrus and a little salinity.	Fruity peat smoke: berries, salinity and BBQ steak. A little farmyard funk. There's honey, toffee and vanilla here suggesting sweetness to come.	Musty dunnage funk with smoke, dried fruit, dates and prunes. A little salinity, honey and chocolate covered chewing nuts. There's a little marzipan note here too.
Palate	Thick chewy arrival, sweet honey and a little toffee. There's an immediate bite of oak spice as the ABV hits. Orange zest, dried seaweed and gentle smoke.	Another thick chewy arrival, but this one is all over the place - mouthwash, cherry lips, soap. Get past that and there are some smoky berry notes and a little spice. Strange sour citrus note as the liquid disappears. Not nice.	Thick sweet arrival, a little dry sawdust and a little soap. There's a cereal note - shortbread or digestive biscuit with some icing sugar. I gave this one some time too and got some tropical fruit notes and again that strange sour citrus.	A little thin on arrival. Sweet and spicy as you'd expect at this ABV. There's a lovely dry smoke note and lots of fresh berries. There's a surprising watery note as the liquid disappears leaving a dry spice on the tongue.	Thick, chewy arrival,. Berries, cherries and a blanket of smoke. a little salinity introduces some dryness. This is more like it! There's a little vanilla, oak spice, dried fruit and a lovely liquorice note.
Finish	Lingering fruit, spice, salinity and a little smoke.	Lingering sour citrus, oak spice and smoke.	Short and sour with a little orchard fruit and sour citrus.	Lingering dry smoke, a little spice and berries.	Lingering salinity, liquorice and smoked cherries.
Overall	Lots of people made the long 'pilgrimage' to Campbeltown and then for some reason forget to turn left to Glen Scotia and keep going to Springbank. I'll admit I've done it too! You visit the cage, whether that was in the Cadenhead Shop or the Distillery Visitor's Centre and you buy a bottle or two (I think you're limited to 1 these days and they write your name on it). I've bought a few - nearly always 'plain' ex-bourbon and they've been good, it's not very often you get the opportunity to buy any other kind of maturation so you expect them to be good. To be fair I wasn't impressed. The ex-bourbon was good - 'plain' Springbank - a nice dram, the Burgundy was not nice, the Hazelburn wasn't either but not quite as bad. The Madeira Longrow is something you'd probably just at - you've won the lottery but to be honest it wasn't great, The Longrow Sherry was much better - nearly as good as the Springbank bourbon. If you do get to Campbeltown - do go and visit Springbank, after Glen Scotia, and if there are any bottles in the 'cage' buy an ex-bourbon - you won't be disappointed.

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
FM	Fresh Madeira	RM	Refill Madeira

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