Springbank Longrow 21 Years Old

A distillery bottling of Longrow, a 21 year old Campbeltown malt and bottled at 46%. Only 3600 bottles were released. The Springbank distillery, a family distillery since 1828, 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.

The make was distilled twice from barley floor malted and peated hard, and slowly worm tub cooled. A sherry cask wrapped the oily spirit in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Beyond twenty years the malt grows waxy and deep, tropical fruit and salt over an oily base. A patient maturation suits the rich, complex Campbeltown spirit. Today just three distilleries survive in the old Kintyre whisky town. The maritime warehouses by the sea lend the malt its briny, oily depth. A 1940s Porteus mill and an open iron mash tun are part of the old setup. The Mitchell family has held the distillery for five generations.

At an easy 46% it is gentle. Smoke, tar and an oily maritime depth sit over raisin, fig and a vanilla sweetness. It is rich and layered, the fruit and salt well matched. A long finish smoulders on salt and oil. This is the peated face of Campbeltown.