Springbank Longrow 2001 (51.7%)

A distillery bottling of Longrow, an 11 year old Campbeltown malt from 2001 and bottled at 51.7%. Only 9000 bottles were released. The Springbank distillery, established in 1828, is a family distillery that malts and bottles every drop on site. The family owner also holds Cadenhead's, the oldest independent bottler in Scotland.

The make was drawn off two distillations of heavily peated malt, with the spirit condensed in worm tubs. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, gentle American oak beneath the spirit. Younger here, it keeps a vigorous, briny freshness over the oily body. The slow loss of the angel's share concentrates the oily, complex core over time. Quality and tradition, not volume, have always been the watchwords here. The spirit is filled to cask and matured within the distillery walls. Few distilleries keep so much of the old craft alive under one roof. Campbeltown was once the whisky capital of the world, with more than thirty distilleries at its peak.

Undiluted at 51.7%, it is intense. Vanilla, cream and light coconut meets smoke, tar and an oily maritime depth. A waxy weight and a saline tang give it real body. A long finish smoulders on salt and oil. This is Springbank's heavily peated Longrow.