Springbank Triple Distilled 2000 Ca88 (Cask 88 (Ca88))

Cask 88 (Ca88) bottled this Springbank, a 21 year old release from 2000, drawn from cask 22 and bottled at 42.4%. Only 290 bottles were released. Springbank is a Campbeltown distillery distilling since 1828, run much as it was a century ago. It makes three malts: Springbank, the peated Longrow and the unpeated Hazelburn.

It was run two and a half times through the stills from lightly peated malt, then condensed through worm tubs. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding a light honeyed sweetness. Beyond twenty years the malt grows waxy and deep, tropical fruit and salt over an oily base. Long maturation suits the heavy, characterful make, the cask knitting slowly with the spirit. 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. Campbeltown was once the whisky capital of the world, with more than thirty distilleries at its peak.

At a natural 42.4% it is full and oily. Vanilla, cream and light coconut from the cask underpins brine, wax and a light peat note. Soft fruit and brine sit behind the cask sweetness. It closes long, oily and salty. This is a hand made Campbeltown single malt.