Springbank Black Label – 66.30 Proof 50 Years Old 1919

This official Springbank single malt, a 50 year old release from 1919, drawn from cask 715 and bottled at 37.79%. The outturn was 24 bottles. Springbank, founded in 1828 in Campbeltown, is campbeltown's most revered surviving distillery. Hedley Wright's family has kept the distillery independent for the best part of two centuries.

This was distilled the Springbank way, two and a half times from floor malted barley, and condensed in traditional worm tubs. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. Decades leave it waxy and oxidative, candied fruit and brine with great depth. Everything is done on site, the spirit going from still to cask to bottle in Campbeltown. 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 its natural 37.79% it is concentrated. An oily, maritime character with light peat are layered with creamy vanilla and oak sweetness. Beneath it run oily fruit, salt and a coastal depth. The close is rich, fruit over a saline depth. This is the flagship malt of old Campbeltown.