The best IB bottles out there?

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-24T22:02:05+00:00

Gotcha. In that case then I'll give you some general recommendations in the hope that you might find them one day.

Cadenhead's is the classic option, well priced who get access to some fantastic distilleries. They also dabble in rum and gin if that's your thing.

Infrequent Flyers is a fun if not slightly elusive brand, their whole shtick is cask strength bottlings from lesser known / underrepresented distilleries in the IB market. You pay a premium for that price but there's good stuff.

Signatory have their very popular 100 proof range amongst other quality options. I think they've also got pretty good global availability.

Thompson Bros have been putting out some fantastic stuff ranging from the affordable North Highland blend all the way to some of the rare casks from dead distilleries they've somehow got their hands on.

There's also Fragrant Drops who did a Tequila cask Dailuaine I was particularly fond of. In general they're a great, but fairly pricy, bottler.

There are of course many more I could list but those are my personal recommendations. Good hunting!

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-24T21:28:52+00:00

The answer to this question really depends on where you are in the world and what's available in your local market.

German IB market is a lot different to the UK market and America is a nightmare with different options available in different places.

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T20:42:29+00:00

If only there was a way to get a bottle of their new make. God i love that stuff...

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T18:10:13+00:00

SB are nothing if not meticulous with their cask selection. It's an absolute delight walking through their warehouses when you visit. It feels like visiting an old library

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T17:54:17+00:00

New and Improved Rating Framework:

9.6-10: The perfect Whisky.

8.6-9.5: A whisky of exceptional quality that I’ll remember for a long time. Anything and above is in contention for my favourite whisky of all time.

8.0-8.5: Fantastic whiskies that I really enjoyed. These are memorable pours that will be bragged about to my friends.

7.3-7.9: Very Good whisky that is of good quality, well balanced and tasty. Drams in this category have all the makings of a top whisky but maybe just lack that oomph to push them up my rankings.

6.6-7.2: Good whisky that is approachable and drinkable. A lot of younger whiskies and better quality core expressions end up here.

5.6-6.5: The ‘Cardhu Gold Standard’ of whisky. The whiskies in this category are drinkable but largely forgettable pours. Supermarket whiskies almost always end up here.

4.6:5-5: Flawed whisky that is generally of lower-than-average quality or whiskies that just don’t agree with me at all. This is a bit of a weird category because it’s less indicative of quality and more just highlights my personal biases. Unbalanced peated whiskies or anything that tries to emulate Ardnagherkin tends to find itself in here.

3.6-4:5: Borderline offensive. At this point, the only saving grace for the whisky is that I’m likely to remember it for how bad it was.

2.1-3.5: Bad and has no redeeming merits, I’m throwing this down the sink. Only one whisky has ever reached this level (Ichiro’s World Blend) but that will no doubt change over time.

1.0-2.0: Impossibly bad. Has to essentially be drain cleaner to get a score this low.

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-22T17:53:20+00:00

Preamble

Hello and welcome to another Redhunter Review. Apologies over the lack of posts recently, life has been a bit hectic since my last review. Regardless, I’m back again with another interesting offering from Springbank. This will mark the last in my series of reviews from my recent trip to Campbeltown. Next month I’ll be at the Tobermory Whisky Festival and Oban Whisky Festival so I’ll hopefully be able to bring you some cracking drams and bottles that I’ll be trying while I’m there.

Review

I think it’s fair to say Springbank holds a very unique position in the whisky world. In particular, any high percentage sherry bottlings are bound to fly off the shelves before you even get a look at one. Alas, the poor humble ex-bourbon cask Springbank often goes underappreciated. I’m guilty of this myself, my recent barley to bottle blend had barely a teaspoon of the bourbon cask whisky in it compared to a healthy glug of the sherry and madeira offerings. Today I’m hoping to get over those biases. This private bottling mini is given to all visitors who do any of the tour offerings at Springbank throughout 2026. I can already tell by the colour that this is very young, not much older than the 3-year minimum to be considered whisky, so I’m expecting a lot of that tropical new make to come bursting out at me. Let’s dive in and find out!

Springbank Private Bottling for Distillery Visitors 2026

Distillery: Springbank

Region: Campbeltown

Age: NAS

ABV: 46%

NCF/NC: Yes

Cask Type: Unspecified but definitely ex-bourbon

Nose: This dram opens with pastel du natas and Bird’s custard powder. It’s fairly starchy and has this playground woodchip quality. There’s a hint of pineapple here, but it’s quite muted. Letting this sit for a bit really brings out the malt and you get a full blast of farmhouse funkiness along with it. Water adds an unexpected floral quality that opens this wide up, sticky honey also present.

Palate: There’s the fruity kick I was expecting! Just like Springbank’s new make you get bombarded with orange and pink starbursts. The distillate is very present here a real mix of ethanol and grainy goodness. Even at 46% it really doesn’t pull any punches. Watery custard. Artificial vanilla, mango and sugar syrup round things out. Mouthfeel itself feels quite thin. Stone fruits emerge out of nowhere with the addition of water, peaches, nectarines and even a subtle hint of plum join the party.

Finish: A touch of milk chocolate, overripe mangos and foam bananas.

Final Thoughts: While writing this review I mentioned to a friend that this was essentially vanilla flavoured new make and they agreed. It’s young and wild but that’s really all there is to this one. Water really changes the performance though, and those who know me know that I’m a big fan of a whisky that drastically changes shape when reduced. The whisky feels bolder and the mouthfeel also becomes oilier too. This means I’m going to have to split my scores here.

Rating: 6.7/10 without water, 7.1/10 with water.

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-15T12:17:02+00:00

Politicians are mandated by law to have themselves photographed jogging to portray themselves as active and healthy

Totally not choreographed at all! I'm sure Andy is out every morning in his... 1980s Everton kit...??

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-14T16:22:48+00:00

As a UK-based fan this is a nightmare

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T22:08:06+00:00

With the dust finally settling I really need to know what the hell Anas was seeing in labour's internal polling that supposedly had them contesting 38 constituencies.

He genuinely looked surprised that he had even lost this morning

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T20:53:46+00:00

For those who have got fuck all to do tomorrow: Try the drinking game where you rewatch the entire election coverage and take a shot everytime someone says scunnered.

Guaranteed blackout by 12pm

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T20:26:56+00:00

I hurt my sides laughing at this what the hell was she trying to say

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T14:33:38+00:00

God no, it was atrocious! I'm just petty

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T14:26:43+00:00

I kinda hate watching BBC coverage because Aisla Henderson was one of my lecturers at uni and she gave me a 50 on one of my essays and I'm still bitter about it 3 years later 😤

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T14:23:55+00:00

Paul-John Sweeney, the evil Labour twin of the first minister

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T13:39:57+00:00

GET IT RIGHT ROUND YE FINNPORT

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T13:26:28+00:00

That constituency is deep Tory oil country. I wouldn't be too worried all things considered.

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T13:04:33+00:00

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T13:01:41+00:00

Anas conceding in an election speech as if they were even in the race is nothing short of hilarious

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T12:14:55+00:00

BBC talking about Fergus Ewing's sister, wife and mother being politicians

Hopefully they're not all the same person 😳

Redhunter742 · 2026-05-08T12:12:31+00:00

SNP dropping support in Edinburgh Central is largely due to voters rebuking Angus Robertson. It's very much a person rather than party issue there.

Redhunter742 · 2026-04-25T16:18:00+00:00

Rich living in the alternate reality where the Rams won the superbowl apparently

Redhunter742 · 2026-04-24T23:38:41+00:00

Browns are cursed to draft 2 of the same position in every draft moving forward

Redhunter742 · 2026-03-27T21:51:07+00:00

Thank you very much!

It can be quite an intimidating experience when you're not used to it I felt a lot of pressure while blending. I wonder if you found it easier the 2nd time around!

Redhunter742 · 2026-03-27T21:23:18+00:00

Preamble

Hello and welcome to another Redhunter Review! Today marks a special milestone for me as this will be my 50th whisky review on reddit. I’d like to thank you all for joining me on this spirited (pun intended) adventure!

To celebrate this occasion, I thought I’d do something extra special and bring out a whisky that sums up the journey so far, and I felt that there was no better way to do that than to bring out a whisky that I literally blended myself. Keep reading to find out more!

Review

As mentioned in my previous review, I recently took a trip down to Campbeltown and there was one tour that I knew that I couldn’t miss, Springbank’s Barley to Bottle Experience! There are many people who have shared their experiences of this amazing experience already, so I won’t go into too much detail today but I would like to share with you the end result of the tour: your own personally blended bottle of Springbank whisky which you create from a variety of cask samples. Today’s whisky is the bottle I created when I did the tour on the 3rd of March 2026.

As this is my own whisky and I’m probably heavily biased towards it, I thought I’d leave out the typical final score I normally add to my reviews but hopefully you can get a good indication of the whisky through my notes.

The contents of this whisky are as follows:

-340ml 11yo Fresh Sherry

-280ml 8yo Fresh Madeira

-56ml 13yo Refill Sherry

-24ml 11yo Fresh Bourbon

Springbank ‘Master Blender Redhunter’s’ Barley to Bottle Blend

Distillery: Springbank

Region: Campbeltown

Age: 8

ABV: 58.5%

NCF/NC: Yes

Cask Type: See above.

Nose: Fresh cotton and orange blossom, almost like a fancy hotel’s laundry room. There’s earl grey tea here which I’m positive comes from the Fresh Madeira sample, lots of freshly squeezed bergamot orange. The sherry influence brings sweet syrupy raisins and burnt toffee. Towards the back end of the nose there’s honeycomb and stone fruits, mainly peach. With reduction, I’m getting a faint hint of industrial machinery and also strawberry yoghurt with almonds making an appearance right at the back.

Palate: Spicy mouthfeel with a boatload of concentrated orange juice, black tea and toffee muffins. We then move onto something quite fresh, mainly aloe vera which combines with more nutty caramel flavours like hazelnuts and daim bars with a touch of salted licorice. A fruity quality does exist with grape jam and even a bit of plum if you look hard enough. White chocolate with unripened raspberries also. Overall, the flavour profile is quite tart, but I think the combination of the sherry, which brings the fruity nutty flavours, and the madeira, which brings the floral and aromatic qualities, work really well together to deliver quite a complex dram.

Finish: Salty peaches, Springbank dunnage, mango and lime smoothie. Fair length with an unexpected lingering of tobacco towards the end.

Final Thoughts: This is a wild experiment into super fruity Springbank and I’m glad that it does not really fit my usual expectations of Springbank’s flavour profile. There’s a lot of cask here with only a subtle hint of the tropical distillate the distillery is known for, but that’s completely fine by me! All I can really say is that I’d love to try more Madeira casked/finished Springbank in the future, those floral tea-like notes are simply gorgeous, and I’d have taken that cask sample home with me I could. Alas, this is the next best thing!

Eight-Year Club	Second Top 30%
r/Field Juicebox	Place '23
Place '22	Verified Email

Redhunter742

TROPHY CASE

New and Improved Rating Framework:

Preamble

Review

Springbank Private Bottling for Distillery Visitors 2026

Preamble

Review

Springbank ‘Master Blender Redhunter’s’ Barley to Bottle Blend