Springbank 19 Years Old 1998 Cask #427 (Archives)

Archives bottled this Springbank, a 19 year old Campbeltown malt from 1998, drawn from cask 427 and bottled at 46.4%. 186 bottles in all. 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 run through the distillery's part triple distillation, the malt floor malted and gently peated, then condensed through worm tubs. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. Past a decade the oily spirit deepens, fruit and salt knitting with the oak. The oily, robust make carries cask flavour while holding its own character. 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.

At an easy 46.4% it is gentle. A salty, waxy depth with a whisper of peat meet a sherried dried fruit and nuts from the cask. The mouthfeel is oily, the fruit carried on a salty body. A warming, oily finish lingers long. This is the most traditional malt in Scotch.