Springbank Private Bottling 21 Years Old 1993

This Springbank, an official release, a 21 year old from 1993, drawn from cask 124 and bottled at 55.7%. The outturn was 175 bottles. Springbank is a Campbeltown distillery founded in 1828, still owned by the Mitchell family, five generations on. The cult around Springbank has made it one of the most collected of all malts.

It was floor malted, lightly peated and distilled two and a half times, then condensed through worm tubs. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. Beyond twenty years the malt grows waxy and deep, tropical fruit and salt over an oily base. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its briny, mineral lift. 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.

At 55.7%, undiluted, it is deep and powerful. A coastal, waxy spirit with gentle peat meet vanilla, cream and light coconut from the cask. A coastal salt and an orchard fruit lift it. A long, oily, coastal finish lingers. This is an oily, salty Campbeltown classic.