Springbank 12 Years Old (53.5%)

This Springbank, an official release, a 12 year old release from 2003 and bottled at 53.5%. The outturn was 10260 bottles. Springbank, distilling since 1828 in Campbeltown, is still owned by the Mitchell family, five generations on. Uniquely in Scotch, every drop is floor malted, distilled, matured and bottled on the one site.

This was distilled the Springbank way, two and a half times from floor malted barley, and run into cast iron worm tubs. Ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, soft oak that lets the make lead. Mid age brings a fuller fruit and a deeper coastal complexity. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its briny, mineral lift. Demand far outstrips the small output, and bottles are keenly chased. Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn each show a different face of the one distillery. The open larch washbacks are a rare survival in modern Scotch.

At 53.5%, undiluted, it is deep and powerful. A coastal, waxy spirit with gentle peat meet a vanilla and toffee sweetness from the cask. It is deep and complex, the maritime spirit shining through. The close is rich, fruit over a saline depth. This is the cult Campbeltown malt from J and A Mitchell.