Springbank 30 Years Old 1994 Cask #94 (Distilia)

This is a Springbank single malt, chosen and bottled by Distilia, aged 30 year old from 1994, drawn from cask 94 and bottled at 48.6%. The outturn was 112 bottles. Springbank, founded in 1828 in Campbeltown, is famous for doing everything on site, from floor malting to bottling. The whole process, malting included, is carried out by hand on the one site.

This was floor malted, lightly peated and distilled two and a half times, and slowly worm tub cooled. Maturation in a sherry cask laid dried fruit over the maritime malt. Decades leave it waxy and oxidative, candied fruit and brine with great depth. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its briny, mineral lift. The sea loch at the foot of the town shapes the coastal character of the malt. 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.

Undiluted at 48.6%, it is intense. A coastal, waxy spirit with gentle peat sit over a sherried dried fruit and nuts. A coastal salt and an orchard fruit lift it. Sea salt and fruit draw out the close. This is the flagship malt of old Campbeltown.