Springbank

Springbank is a family-owned single malt whisky distillery on the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland. It sits among low hills close to the sea, where the damp air carries the scent of peat and salt. The distillery belongs to J & A Mitchell & Company, which also runs the nearby Glengyle distillery and the old bottler William Cadenheads. Springbank was licensed in 1828 and is one of the last working distilleries in Campbeltown, an area that once had more than thirty. The distillery is worth the journey because it still carries out every stage of whisky-making itself. It keeps a traditional malting floor and dries its barley with peat from Islay for between thirty and forty-eight hours. Springbank produces three distinct malts: Hazelburn, a triple-distilled unpeated whisky; Longrow, a heavily peated double-distilled whisky; and the medium-peated Springbank itself, distilled two and a half times. Each spirit is aged mainly in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, with no chill-filtering or added colour. Visitors find a working distillery where barley is ground, mashed, fermented in larch washbacks, and distilled in copper pot stills. The stillroom uses both direct-fire and steam-heated stills, and worm-tub condensers give the spirit a richer character. Bottlings include 10-, 15-, 18- and 21-year-old expressions of Springbank, a 12-year-old cask-strength release, and annual Longrow Red editions finished in different wine casks. Beside the stills stands the small stillhouse where the stillman makes fine adjustments to keep each malt consistent.