Springbank Society Bottling 12 Years Old 2001

This Springbank, an official release, aged 12 year old from 2001 and bottled at 53.5%. A release of 300 bottles. Springbank, distilling since 1828 in Campbeltown, is still owned by the Mitchell family, five generations on. It makes three malts: Springbank, the peated Longrow and the unpeated Hazelburn.

This was distilled the Springbank way, two and a half times from floor malted barley, then condensed through worm tubs. Maturation in a fortified wine cask lent red and dark fruit. Around the mid teens the malt gains depth while keeping its oily salt. Coastal warehousing gives the malt its briny, mineral lift. 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.

At its natural 53.5% it is concentrated. A coastal, waxy spirit with gentle peat meet plum and red berry from the cask. A coastal salt and an orchard fruit lift it. The close is rich, fruit over a saline depth. This is an oily, salty Campbeltown classic.