Home Tasting: Springbank 1999-2011 11yo OB 'Local Barley' for Springbank Society

New release and home bottling coincidentally overlapped. Springbank SPRINGBANK 1999-2011 11yo OB 'LOCAL BARLEY' for SPRINGBANK SOCIETY 57.9% one of 516 bottles, Recharred Sherry Butt ・Aroma: Rich aroma with dry orange topped with bitter chocolate, prunes, black sugar candy, caramelized nuts, powerful barley and yeast notes, charred wood, strong katsuobushi (dried fish), clove, herbaceous green notes with a touch of wax and smoked fish oil. ・Flavor: Smooth, viscous mouthfeel expanding into a powerful, aromatic depth with concentrated apricot jam, caramelized nuts, black sugar, wax, and intense barley umami. A rich sweetness with a tightening tannic grip, followed by a delayed but strong salinity, slight woody bitterness, and a faint iodine note. Strong smokiness with a slightly oily texture. ・Aftertaste: The rich barley umami, sticky sweetness, and fishy peat notes linger for a long time. ・Watering Down: A tea-like quality and subtle strawberry jam emerge, but surprisingly the cask character floats to the surface, emphasizing youthfulness and peatiness. ・Overall Review: The cask influence is strong but the spirit's body and thick barley character are equally compelling, creating a dynamic interplay. The potential of the spirit is high but it feels like the cask has forcefully sealed an immature spirit. While some roughness exists, its intense complexity is unexpected for 11 years, making the tasting very enjoyable. The interplay between cask and spirit is particularly notable for its rich barley umami, deep sweetness, and tannic grip. The seaweed-like notes and strong peatiness suggest a Longrow-style spirit. The original spirit is not inferior, but the strong cask influence and roughness make it a tiring drinking experience. It felt more cohesive than when first released, but adding water seemed to break that unity, which was interesting. This is Springbank 1999 bottled for the Springbank Society, aged 11 years in Local Barley. It seems they restarted using Local Barley around 1999, as recently released Springbank Local Barley 1999 (16 years) was finally launched. To my knowledge, this 11-year-old bottling is the first of the new Local Barley series. I happened to open it at home just two weeks before receiving news of the new release. As described, Springbank's aroma and flavor are a dynamic interplay between cask and spirit, making it very diverse. While some roughness from immaturity and cask influence exists, the barley's umami is rich. At only 11 years old, it likely needed the cask influence to temper its youthfulness compared to the newer 16-year-old release. In fact, it might have been the first cask to finish among several tested due to specifications. The special 'Recharred Sherry Butt' cask, as the name suggests, is a sherry butt that was recharred (re-burned) to reactivate it. However, significant sherry characteristics remain, suggesting the cask wasn't particularly old. Like other 1990s Bank bottlings, it has strong Longrow-style peatiness adding seafood-like umami to the barley. The diverse, deep aroma and flavor from the interplay between cask and spirit provide a satisfying drinking experience but also some roughness that can be tiring. Each aroma component can be traced to either cask or spirit origin, making it increasingly interesting with each sip. It was a great coincidence to open this at the right time for comparison. #Springbank (SPRINGBANK)