Springbank Society Bottling 9 Years Old 1997

A distillery bottling of Springbank matured to 9 year old from 1997 and bottled at 60.2%. The outturn was 700 bottles. The Springbank distillery, established in 1828, is one of only three distilleries left in Campbeltown. Water comes from Crosshill Loch, the barley malted on the distillery's own floors.

The make was run two and a half times through the stills from lightly peated malt, and worm tub cooled in the old way. A Rum cask shaped it, lending brown sugar and a tropical lift. Younger here, it keeps a vigorous, briny freshness over the oily body. The oily, robust make carries cask flavour while holding its own character. 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.

Bottled at a cask strength 60.2%, it is rich. Brown sugar and a rum sweetness meets a salty, waxy depth with a whisper of peat. The mouthfeel is oily, the fruit carried on a salty body. A long finish smoulders on salt and oil. This is the most traditional malt in Scotch.