Springbank 23 Years Old 1996 Cask #195 (Glenscoma)

Glenscoma bottled this Springbank, a 23 year old Campbeltown malt from 1996, drawn from cask 195 and bottled at 54.5%. The outturn was 561 bottles. The Springbank distillery, established in 1828, is run much as it was a century ago. It makes three malts: Springbank, the peated Longrow and the unpeated Hazelburn.

The make was drawn off after two and a half distillations of gently peated malt, then condensed through worm tubs. Maturation in a sherry cask laid dried fruit over the maritime malt. Past twenty years the spirit turns waxy and profound while keeping its character. Years in oak deepen the fruit and the maritime character together. 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 cask strength 54.5% it is muscular. A sherried dried fruit and nuts from the cask underpins brine, wax and a light peat note. A coastal salt and an orchard fruit lift it. It closes long, oily and salty. This is a hand made Campbeltown single malt.