Springbank Private Bottling 18 Years Old 2000

A distillery bottling of Springbank, an 18 year old from 2000, drawn from cask 653 and bottled at 46.9%. The outturn was 258 bottles. A family distillery since 1828, Springbank is a cult Campbeltown distillery with a devoted following. Each bottling is filled and labelled in Campbeltown rather than shipped away.

The spirit was drawn off after two and a half distillations of gently peated malt, then cooled slowly in worm tubs. A sherry cask wrapped the oily spirit in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Past a decade the oily spirit deepens, fruit and salt knitting with the oak. The cool, damp Campbeltown air by the sea gives a slow, even maturation. 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.

At 46.9% it is soft, oily and coastal. A briny, oily depth with a hint of peat ride on dried fruit, fig and walnut. The texture is rich and oily, the salt threaded through. Salt and oily fruit see out a long finish. This is a complex, coastal Campbeltown whisky.