Springbank 5 Years Old (43%)

An official Springbank single malt, a 5 year old and bottled at 43%. The Springbank distillery, established in 1828, is one of only three distilleries left in Campbeltown. Each bottling is filled and labelled in Campbeltown rather than shipped away.

The make was run two and a half times through the stills from lightly peated malt, then cooled slowly in worm tubs. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. At this age the spirit is vivid and oily, the fruit and salt to the fore. 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. 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.

Reduced to 43%, it is mellow. Vanilla, cream and light coconut meets a salty, waxy depth with a whisper of peat. The texture is rich and oily, the salt threaded through. A long finish smoulders on salt and oil. This is a complex, coastal Campbeltown whisky.