Joel: 4am is very
early. Or very late, depending on which side of it you stand. This morning, we
stood on very much the wrong side; the post-sleep side. The side where eagles
dare...
As my blackberry alarm (which sounds very much like a pirate
ghost ship from the future) sprang to life, it seemed to leave me cowering
under the blankets, wishing for the invention of some sort of transporter, startrek-like,
to whisk me away to my final destination... firstly Campbeltown, down the Mull
of Kintyre, and latterly onwards to Islay for the second half of this year’s
Feis Ile, Festival of Music & Malt.
Rising from my slumber like a caveman from winter
hibernation, I was greeted in the corridor of our accommodation, somewhere west
of Oxford, by Neil. He’s been up a good 30 mins longer than I; for what reason
I cannot ascertain. Our aim: to be away by 5am and reach Campbeltown before
4pm.
Showered, shaved and fed, we jumped in our car of choice for
this year’s tip (previous models have included a dreadful KIA and a bone-shattering
Merc A-Class), a full Alan Partridge-style Lexus Hybrid 4x4 for the 440 mile
drive. We’d done a similar trip before (many times before) to the ferry
terminal for Islay, but this time we were to go that little bit further and visit
the chaps who make Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn whiskies.
The drive was as smooth as one could hope for, hitting the
fantastically run, independently-owned Tbay services on the edge of the Lake
District by 8.30am. It was all looking good. After a full English breakfast and
the purchase of a selection of homemade pies for later in our journey, we
carried on towards Scotland.
Up and over Glasgow, the sunshine was streaming down as we
made our way along the side of Loch Fyne and in to Inveraray. Stopping to quaff
the aforementioned pies on the waters edge, we took in a pit stop to see
Richard Joynson at Loch Fyne Whiskies. Our first ‘mistake’ of the day...
Always greeted by a smile, a witty quip and usually a dram
(I once popped in on the 5 min long ‘natural break’ the coach from Glasgow to
Kennacraig gives you in the town, only to have a dram slammed straight in to my
hand), Richard’s excellent selection in such a small space is coupled with
prices which meant we simply couldn’t resist picking a bottle or two, so Neil
and I took full advantage; I bought a Tomatin Decades (which came second in our
Best In Glass Award 2011) and Neil a 1995 Laphroaig Signatory Vintage Cask
Strength Collection, one of only 233 bottles, sampled while chatting with the
good man himself, a Master of the Quiach.
Grinning ear-to-ear with our new found friends,
Mr. Tomatin and Mr. Laphroaig, we caught up on a few much needed rays and headed
onwards down to Campbeltown, where we’d learn that our adventure for the day
(if not least our purchases for the day) had only just begun...
Neil: So after nearly ten hours on the road (and what a superb day to be
driving up to this glorious part of the world) we finally pull into
Campbeltown. The distillery, Campbeltown Malts (or Springbank if you prefer)
is neatly located down a nondescript side alley off the high street. We’d
arranged to collect a cask sample from a friend of ours, which was sitting on
reception as we arrive, but kindly, they
had also arranged for us to get a ‘warts and all’ tour - a real treat
considering the rather classic nature of the distillery.
When it comes to an image of how a distillery used to look,
Springbank have perfectly preserved the aesthetic and the passion behind whisky
making. In fact, it is without a doubt,
the most traditional distillery we’ve ever visited. From the malting floors and the belt-driven
machinery to the cask iron mash tun, Springbank looks every bit the distillery
it probably was back in 1912 and is a far cry from the modernist approach most
of us are used to seeing. As far as we
can see, this is the only computer used during the distillation process:
In fact, our guide John
mentioned that the closest they have come to using technology is a
calculator.
John explained the difference in peating levels/kilning between the
different whiskies made on site with around 24-30 hours of kilning over peat
(some sourced locally, but most bought in from Tomintoul) for Springbank, six
hours for Longrow and of course no peating at all for Hazelburn.
The stillroom is again a mixture of Heath Robinson ingenuity and
good old-fashioned simplicity, with an unrivalled ‘if it ain’t broke…’ mentality. Having three stills means that they can play
different tunes using the range of peating levels (Hazelburn being triple
distilled and Springbank being two-and-a-half times distilled, using a process
a little too complicated to explain by my sleep deprived brain)
One 'high tech' feature that made us laugh heartily was the simple set
up of a bucket crudely held at an angle by wire within the wash backs, so that
if the fermentation gets too violent, the rising foam head will tilt the
bucket, releasing some ‘anti foaming agent’ into the wash. Sometimes the best ideas are the most simple-
and clearly effective.
For those of you who have, like us, made the annual pilgrimage to
Islay many times but never ventured down as far as Campbeltown either on the
way over or way back, make sure you put this wonderfully quirky but traditional
distillery on your list now – it is unquestionably worth the extra miles.
Joel: After the fantastic visit to what has to be described
as “the distillery which health & safety forgot”, we headed over to the
town’s local whisky shop, run by Cadenheads. Our second, big ‘mistake’ of the
day...
As we wandered in to their newly appointed premises, one
thing became very clear: there were some fantastic and unusual bottles on the shelves
and guess what? We’d be leaving with some of them.
First up were the two single cask offerings which the
distillery bottled for their open day, held last Thursday; a Longrow, 9 Years
old and from a fresh fill bourbon cask yielding
just 230 bottles and the other a Springbank aged for 12 years in a fresh sherry
hogshead and giving an outturn of 313 bottles. Such were we wooed by the
samples we were given, that we decided to pick up a couple of these little gems
each.
Longrow – Open Day Bottling – 9 Years Old – Fresh Bourbon
Barrel – Distilled October 2002 – Bottled 24 May 2012 – 230 bottles – 59.1% abv
Nose: Succulent wafts of tropical fruit, fruit gums, a hint of peat,
some lemon zest, sweet vanilla and fresh tangerine segments. Fruity, summery
and absolutely superb. Young, but with a huge depth of character.
Palate: Initially very sweet, with a carry over of the vanilla aromas,
some mint/menthol notes, fragrant smoke and a rich oily, tongue coating
mouthfeel. With water, the fruitiness becomes more pronounced, as does
the swirls of aromatic smoke.
Finish: A touch of green apple skin and a lingering light smoke on the
drying palate.
Overall: £50 doesn't buy you a great deal in terms of a 'festival' bottling
these days (take note, Islay) but Springbank have smashed it out the park with
this Longrow single cask. A real gem of a find and well worth the lengthy
drive it took to purchase.
The Cadenheads shop has, apparently, recently undergone
somewhat of a renovation and out the back of the purchasing area is a new
sampling room, designed as an extension to the Springbank distillery visitors
tours and lovely it looks too.
As we were lead back to the main shopping area, a rare sight
caught our eyes: a large selection of full bottles marked ‘Duty Paid Samples’,
locked away behind grill-covered doors, each with their own price tag, each for
sale.
A new venture from the chaps at Cadenheads, these bottles
are all cask samples drawn from various butts, barrels and bloodtubs in the
warehouses owned by Campeltown malts. When they pull a sample for testing, they
fill a bottle, cap it, pay the duty and sell it off in the shop. A true
one-off, one of one, these utterly unique bottling mean the purchaser must take a
real leap of faith, with just the whisky type (Springbank, Longrow, Hazelburn)
and the cask style / abv available. No samples, no tasting notes, no way to try-before-you-buy.
Looking through the list of what was available, we settled
on buying a 2003 Springbank, matured in a Burgundy wine cask at bottled at 59%.
Ripping the top off, this is what we found:
Springbank – Duty Paid Sample – Warehouse No. 5 – 2003 – One
of One bottle - 7 Years Old – 59.0% abv – 70cl
Nose: Strong elements of burnt sugar, dark and over-ripe black
cherries, fresh coffee and well stewed plums and prunes. Very rich.
Palate: A strong and robust flavour with a slight bitterness,
the red fruit comes across as warm and, again, over-ripe with elements of dark
plums and black forest gateaux. Rum and rasin dark chocolate hit the sweeter
end notes. With water, the whole thing sits back a little, opening up the
malty-end of the flavour but maintaining the huge personality which it gives
off.
Finish: The finish gives sweet tea without water and those
black cherries again.
Overall: Did I mention over-ripe black cherries and black
forest gateaux? Yeah, I thought so...! Oh, and it cost £45. Yeah, that’s
right... £45!
Impressed? Enough to
head back to the shelves to pick up another Springbank, this time 16 years old
and matured for full term in fresh port and two Longrows, both 8 years old, one
matured in fresh sherry and the other in fresh bourbon. A brilliant way to sell
totally unique bottles which really are one of one, this encourages the purchaser
to put aside marketing bull and go with gut instinct. Will the other bottles we
bought match up to the one we opened? Who knows, but it sure is going to be fun
to find out!
On top of an additional bottle of Springbank Rundlets &
Kilderkins, we left with bags weighed down as heavily as our eyelids, off for a rewarding meal and a good, long sleep.
Onward to tomorrow, with ten new bottles in our stash and we haven’t yet hit Islay....
Onward to tomorrow, with ten new bottles in our stash and we haven’t yet hit Islay....