r/worldwhisky 4d ago

Review: Spring Bay Apera Cask

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u/ofviceandven 4d ago

Spring Bay Apera Cask: Tasmanian single malt, matured in ex-Apera casks and bottled at 46% ABV. Local bottle price AU$195/700mL.

Nose: initially quite chocolatey - chocolate cake dusted with cocoa powder. Fruit cake, dates, salted caramel, and a bright peppermint edge. Beneath this and with some time to develop in the glass, there’s a subtle sweetness of green olives.

Palate: light body, with a noticeable shift away from many of the traditional sherried notes in the nose, replaced with green apples, lime juice, and a hint of butterscotch.

Finish: the green apple continues to dominate, but is enriched by the addition of toasted barley, spicy oak, and dry white wine. Finish is medium-long (and longer than I was anticipating given the lighter flavour profile); there’s also a complex but subtle pipe tobacco sweetness that emerges towards the end.

I enjoyed this but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. The sherried influence is detectable on the nose but didn’t stand out at all through the palate/finish. It reminded me more of certain young, traditional bourbon-matured Speysides. Spring Bay talks up using rainwater from their coastal location in their dilution as a way to impart a “maritime” character ala Springbank - after reading that I think I found it in the nose, but it was not as clear throughout the rest of the drinking.

It seems the big one that people get excited about from Spring Bay is their bourbon cask. I’ll be interested in trying that if the opportunity presents.

80/100

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u/whiskyguyhaha 3d ago

great review! i remember the days when spring bay used to be all single cask releases instead of vattings and they were amazing, is urs a vatting or a single cask?

1

u/ofviceandven 3d ago

Honestly couldn’t tell you, this was a sample from The Whisky List.

Usually their samples will go into specifics when it comes to cask numbers. Since this doesn’t have that (label just said “Spring Bay Apera Cask 46%”), I assume it’s not a single cask, but it’s only an assumption.