Longrow 18 Years Old (46% Europe)

This Longrow, an official release, an 18 year old and bottled at 46%. Only 4300 bottles were released. Springbank is a Campbeltown distillery founded in 1828, prized for its rich, oily, hand made spirit. Bottles are released in small batches, often through ballots to meet the demand.

It was distilled twice from malt kilned over plenty of peat, the vapour cooled in worm tubs. Maturation in a sherry cask laid dried fruit over the maritime malt. Mid age brings a fuller fruit and a deeper coastal complexity. Long maturation suits the heavy, characterful make, the cask knitting slowly with the spirit. The old town of Campbeltown once rivalled Speyside as Scotland's whisky heart. 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.

At an approachable 46% it is balanced. A coastal peat smoke with a briny depth meet raisin, fig and a vanilla sweetness from the cask. Soft fruit and brine sit behind the cask sweetness. A long, oily, coastal finish lingers. This is a tarry, coastal Campbeltown malt.