Springbank
Ever since its establishment, the Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown remained privately owned by its founders ancestors, continuing a legacy of five generations passing on true distillers craftsmanship. True whisky fanatics just love the classic taste of Campbeltown Single Malt Whisky such as the renowned limited Springbank Local Barley 1966, which received positive reviews from international reviewers such as Serge Valentin. By completing every single step of the process on site and embracing the traditional distiller methods only, Springbank is the most self-sufficient distillery in Scotland.
The Springbank Distillery was established in 1828 by Archibald Mitchell, a born and raised farmer who passed on the distillery to his sons John and William. Campbeltown’s community served a broad contribution to the expansion of the distillery sector around the 19th century, an era also known as the “Distillery Dynasties”. Several farmer families grew their own barley, were brought up with the tricks and trades of the distillers knowledge and owned several distilleries, among which the Mitchell family, who were at the helm of Toberanriech, Drumore, Riechalan, Glengyle and Springbank. With over thirty-three distilleries operating in the Campbeltown area and only a couple of thousand residents at its era height, Campbeltown expanded to become Scotland's wealthiest city of that time period.
In retrospect, nobody could have predicted that Springbank would become one of the only three distilleries remaining from Campbeltown’s thriving whisky era, due to the unfortunate recession that struck Campbeltown’s whisky industry at the beginning of the 20th century. Some distilleries couldn’t answer longer to the demand for whisky, which had several blenders withdrawn from the once acclaimed “Whisky Capital of the World”. One by one Campbeltown's distilleries were shut down, leaving Springbank and Glen Scotia as the only remaining distilleries in the city.
The years thereafter, the Springbank Distillery was well-maintained and was passed on through five generations of the Mitchell family. Springbank’s current commander-in-chief is Mitchell’s great-great grandson Hedley G. Wright. In the year 2000, Hedley G. Wright had also purchased, rebuild and refurbished the old Glengyle Distillery on request of the legendary Springbank master distiller Frank McHardy, just to have Campbeltown established as an official whisky region and reclaim back the crown on the map. The Glengyle Distillery was brought back to life and once again became part of the Mitchell family legacy.
Springbank produces three different whisky varieties due to to small adjustments in the distillery process. The first -and most popular variety is the flagship whisky brand: Springbank Single Malt Whisky, a two and a half time distilled medium-peated whisky. The second variety is Longrow Single Malt Whisky, this is a double-distilled and high-peated whisky bearing the name of the distillery that was once located next to The Springbank Distillery, the site where the Springbank bottling hall residents today. And the last and newest variety is Called Hazelburn Single Malt Whisky, which is a non-peated and triple-distilled whisky. The Hazelburn Distillery used to be located in Longrow Street across the current location of the supermarket, and was owned by Greenlees & Colville Ltd.
Three distinctive whiskies manufactured with love, passion and knowledge of these exclusive classic Springbank distillery methods, restoring Campbeltown's beautiful history. That been said, it's no surprise that the Springbank Distillery has produces some of the very best and most renowned single malt whiskies in the world!
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