Springbank Single Cask 26 Years Old 1998

This Springbank, an official release, aged 26 year old from 1998 and bottled at 51.4%. Just 210 bottles were filled. A family distillery since 1828, Springbank is still owned by the Mitchell family, five generations on. Uniquely in Scotch, every drop is floor malted, distilled, matured and bottled on the one site.

The spirit was given Springbank's unusual two and a half times distillation, and run into cast iron worm tubs. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, gentle American oak beneath the spirit. Past twenty years the spirit turns waxy and profound while keeping its character. 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. The distillery has become a place of pilgrimage for whisky enthusiasts.

At cask strength 51.4% it is muscular. A coastal, waxy spirit with gentle peat meet creamy vanilla and oak sweetness from the cask. It is deep and complex, the maritime spirit shining through. Sea salt and fruit draw out the close. This is the cult Campbeltown malt from J and A Mitchell.