Springbank 10 YO

Springbank 10 YO

Springbank Distillery is unique. It is the oldest independent family owned distillery in Scotland. Founded in 1828 on the site of Archibald Mitchell's illicit still by his sons Archibald and Hugh Mitchell. The Springbank Distillery is now in the hands of his great great great grand son, Hedley G. Wright. Owned by Mr Wright's J&A Mitchell & Co Ltd, Springbank is the only distillery in Scotland to carry out the full production process on the one site. 100% of the traditional floor malting, maturation and bottling is done at the distillery in Campbeltown. Apart from the 'Springbank' brand the distillery produces two other brands, Hazelburn and Longrow.

Campbeltown itself is a quiet town with a harbor and a few hotels and pubs. Springbank is one of the few Scotch whisky distilleries that are not surrounded by the lush Scottish countryside; just like Oban to the North, the Springbank distillery is located in the middle of a busy town. During the glory days of the town and the tip of the Kintyre peninsula, more that thirty distilleries were active in the area. Campbeltown was also known as 'The Whisky Capital of the World'. However, most of the distilleries were focused on quantity rather than quality because they were not able to keep up with the demand for their malt whiskies (especially from the US) anyway. So there was no incentive to try and improve the Campbeltown whiskies. This attitude came back to haunt the Campbeltown distillers when Western economies were hit by an international recession after World War I and the prohibition in the USA brought (legal) exports to the America's to a virtual standstill. One of the first victims was the Glengyle distillery, built circa 1873 by William Mitchell after a fight with his brother John at Springbank. The distillery closed down again in 1825 - and many other Campbeltown distilleries followed. The economical downturn proved to have disastrous consequences for the 'volume' whisky distilleries in Campbeltown. The owner of the Glen Scotia distillery became so depressed that he drowned himself in the artificial lake that was constructed as the distillery's water supply. Only Springbank and Glen Scotia survived.