24/05/2018 Campbeltown Festival 2018 (Day 2 -- Part 2) The Directors Cut (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)

JS and I rush down a sandwich on the way to the tasting. I spot the proprietor of Springbank from a distance, but no time to say hello. We make it to the last remaining seats just on time. The guy next to me complains that my food box is on the table, ruining the smells. I tell him it is empty, but will put it elsewhere. Five minutes later, he realises the smell comes from the burger stall outside and apologises -- mine was not even a burger!
The event takes a lot of time to start -- so long I have to run to the loo. I come back as it begins.

Mark Watt (MW -- head honcho of cask selection for Cadenhead), Findlay Ross (FR -- Springbank distillery manager) and Ranald Watson (RW -- Springbank director of sales and marketing) are MCing this. We are never told who is the Good, the Bad or the Ugly. Each has selected two casks for today, and it is a battle of sorts.

Remember I am tipsy. Notes are therefore short and not very good.

None of them played Morricone

FR presents: Hazelburn d.1997 (52.4%, cask sample, Refill Sherry Cask): the oldest Hazelburn in the warehouse, and possibly one of the earliest distillations. Remember Hazelburn, an old Campbeltown distillery, closed in 1925. Springbank started making whisky in the fashion of Hazelburn in 1997. It is triple-distilled and non-peated. Nose: soft, with apricot pie. Water makes it richer, somehow. Mouth: more softness, pillow-y apricot and peach flesh. Finish: crème brûlée, flan tart and caramelised apricot compote. 7/10

MW presents: Macallan 29yo d.1989 (±44%, cask sample, Bourbon Cask): the room roars with disbelief when MW says what this is. Although tOMoH is completely immune to Macallan, it still has loads and loads of aficionados. Or sheeple who drink labels -- who knows? "This was distilled before the Teletubby distillery was built," starts MW. "I was nine years old when this was distilled. It sat there doing nothing... A bit like myself," he continues. "You wouldn't pick this for a Macallan, as it has no expensive packaging." He knows how to work an audience, MW. Nose: green grapes, perfume, flowers. This is lovely, soft, delicate and fragrant, with hints of cologne. Mouth: soft, sweet and velvety like a vendanges-tardives wine, close to sorbet, or ice-cream shavings. Finish: soft again, with fruit and chocolate. 8/10

MW reminisces his early days at the Craigellachie Hotel: "the only reason I got the job is that I could reach the top shelf... and my sister slept with the manager."

The following day, Facebook is full of messages from Cadenhead's London shop explaining they have no idea what is coming out when and urging people to stop calling them about that Macallan they have never heard of. :-D

The barbecue smell from the burger stall comes back in full swing.

All smell of hamburger, now

RW presents: Springbank 27yo d.1990 (43.7%, cask sample, Refill Oloroso Cask, C#590): the oldest cask of Springbank owned by the distillery. Nose: a walk in an orchard, with added lychee and chocolate-topped custard. Mouth: fruity, lively, fresh and vibrant. Hyperactive grape juice. Finish: super fresh again, with grapes aplenty and apricot stones. Lovely. 8/10

RW: "It's great having a Findlay you can blame everything on."
MW: "I used to have one of them."

RW presents: Springbank d.1991 (48.7%, cask sample, Refill Oloroso Cask, C#5?2): nose: more herbaceous, but it has crisp fruit -- pears, Chinese gooseberries, lime and vanilla pods, or custard. Mouth: the acidity of lime. This is lively and amazing. Finish: bitter as lime peels, grapefruit peels. This is acidic, powerful, yet elegant. Possibly the best dram we will be poured all festival. 9/10

The embarrassing moment when jazzpianofingers and I
run after a guy who is not whom I think he is and struggle
through ten minutes of an awkward conversation

RW: "When you have 13000 casks to choose from, it's not easy to decide which one to choose for a tasting."
MW: "It sounds like an afternoon's work!"

RW: "Frank buggered off to Bushmills, for some reason..."
MW: "And this is a technical term."

RW is talking about Frank MchHardy, who left Campbeltown to go make possibly the best spirit ever to grace the Bushmills stills. McHardy came back to Springbank in 1991. This cask is one of the earliest whisky distilled after his return.

MW: "This is a cask that'll be bottled... soon-ish."
Audience: "When?"
MW: "Like Tuesday, or something."

OO quintuple-fists his exit

MW presents: Kilkerran d.2007 (58.1%, cask sample, Sherry Butt): Springbank allows Cadenhead to bottle one of their whiskies each year. This suggests Cadenhead will bottle a Kilkerran in 2018 -- the first independently-bottled Kilkerran, except for warehouse-tasting bottles. Nose: a creamery, with all sorts of dairy. This is also big and sherried, with lots of tanned leather, prunes in syrup and a whiff of smoke. Mouth: hot, caramelised prunes, pickled, red onions. Finish: big and sherried again, though in a strange, onion-relish sort of way -- smoky relish, that is. 7/10

FR presents: Longrow d.1994 (54.2%, cask sample, Refill Bourbon Cask): FR explains this is the oldest cask of Longrow the distillery owns. It certainly is the oldest Longrow I have had, what with it being 23 or 24. Nose: smoke, of course, but also a pronounced, coastal character -- sea air and seaweed. Mouth: soft, it still has lots of... I do not finish my notes. :-) 7/10

To the courtyard, for some fresh air.