Distillery

Springbank whiskies

Springbank is a Campbeltown distillery and one of the most revered in Scotland. It belongs to J. & A. Mitchell, a family company that has run it since the 19th century. It is the only Scottish distillery that carries out the whole process on site, from malting the barley to bottling. It produces three styles: Springbank, lightly peated; Longrow, heavily peated; and Hazelburn, unpeated and triple distilled.

Founded
1828
Owner
J. & A. Mitchell
Origin
Campbeltown, Scotland
In the catalogue
4 whiskies

History, style and where to startSee it on the world mapSpringbank official website

  • Springbank distillery, photo 1 of 3
    Photo: Ian Macilwain (www.broombank.co.uk) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (cropped and converted)
  • Springbank distillery, photo 2 of 3
    Photo: Leslie Barrie · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (cropped and converted)
  • Springbank distillery, photo 3 of 3
    Photo: Leslie Barrie · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (cropped and converted)

4 whiskies

Guide to Springbank

History

The Mitchell family settled in Campbeltown at the beginning of the 19th century and founded Springbank in the 1820s, at a time when the town had dozens of distilleries. When the crisis of the early 20th century wiped out almost all of them, Springbank held on, and it is still in the hands of the family’s descendants. Throughout the 20th century it kept its traditional methods, such as floor malting and direct-fired distillation in one of its stills. At the beginning of this century the family also revived the neighbouring Glengyle distillery.

House style

Springbank distils “two and a half times”, a system in which part of the spirit goes through the stills three times, which gives a complex, oily whisky. The style combines fruit, cereal, salt, wax, soft smoke and a touch of leather. Longrow, distilled twice and heavily peated, is smokier and earthier. It is bottled without chill filtration and without colouring. Hazelburn, unpeated and triple distilled, is the lightest of the three.

Average flavour profile of its 4 whiskies in the catalogue

Sweet
2.5
Fresh fruit
2.3
Ripe and dried fruit
1.4
Floral and herbal
0.8
Cereal and malt
2.3
Vanilla and creamy
1.5
Oak
1.6
Spicy
1.9
Toasted
1.5
Smoky
1.8
Maritime
2.0
Body and intensity
2.9

Where to start

Springbank 10 Year Old is the best gateway to the house: complex, briny, oily and with soft smoke. Longrow Peated is its very smoky version. The 15-year-old, with more sherry, is one of Scotland’s cult whiskies. They are hard to find because of high demand. Drink them neat or with a few drops of water, and compare them with Kilkerran and Glen Scotia, their neighbours, to discover the character of Campbeltown.

This text was generated and translated by AI and may contain errors. Founding year, owner and official website come partly from Wikidata.

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The colours of this page are inspired by the look of Springbank. WhiskyMatch is independent and has no connection with the brand.