Springbank 15 Years Old (46.5%)

This Springbank, an official release, a 15 year old from 2000 and bottled at 46.5%. Just 198 bottles were filled. The Springbank distillery, in Mitchell family hands since 1828, is still owned by the Mitchell family, five generations on. It makes three malts: Springbank, the peated Longrow and the unpeated Hazelburn.

The make was distilled two and a half times from lightly peated, floor malted malt, then condensed through worm tubs. A Rum cask shaped it, lending brown sugar and a tropical lift. Mid age brings a fuller fruit and a deeper coastal complexity. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its briny, mineral lift. A 1940s Porteus mill and an open iron mash tun are part of the old setup. The Mitchell family has held the distillery for five generations. The town and the sea run through every cask of the make. The sea loch at the foot of the town shapes the coastal character of the malt.

At 46.5% it is soft, oily and coastal. A coastal, waxy spirit with gentle peat meet brown sugar and a rum sweetness from the cask. A coastal salt and an orchard fruit lift it. It closes long, oily and salty. This is an oily, salty Campbeltown classic.