26/05/2018 One dram while waiting for the ferry

Bishlouk, CL, JS and I are going to Arran. We have a little time in Claonaig, before the ferry arrives, and put it to good use with a Campbeltown Commemoration dram.

Weird stickers, in that shed!

Now seems like a good time to say a little more about this range.

Campbeltown used to be the whisky capital of the world, with thirty-seven distilleries for around 18,000 inhabitants at its peak. It now has closer to 5,000 inhabitants and only three active distilleries (Springbank, Glengyle and Glen Scotia). Those numbers are the basis of nice graphs, certainly, but that is not the point. The point is that between 1890 and 1940, all those distilleries closed down. All of them? Not quite. Springbank soldiered on, with some spells of inactivity from time to time, but no lengthy closure or sale. In fact, it still belongs to the same family that co-founded it (Hedley Wright, whom I met yesterday, is the great-great-great grandson of Archibald Mitchell, who was distilling Springbank before it was licensed). Why there were so many and why the others have closed is the subject of a well-researched book by David Stirk, called: The Distilleries of Campbeltown -- The Rise and Fall of the Whisky Capital of the World, Angels' Share, which comes highly recommended. Not an easy read, but a very informative one.

After the Second World War, J&A Mitchell, owners of Springbank, acquired many of the old distilleries' brands -- that is what allows them to now make Hazelburn and Longrow. In the 1980s, during the Whisky Loch (to simplify: too much offer, too little demand), Springbank was going through a period of inactivity (almost nothing was distilled there between 1979 and 1989) and Glen Scotia was silent. Wright tried to put the spotlight on his region again with this collection of vatted malts (now blended malts) reviving the old names -- twenty-five of them. That is what the Lost Distillery Company (TLDC) does in the twenty-first century, but this collection, here, predates that by thirty years.

As with Longrow and Hazelburn and TLDC today, the concept is interesting, but would anyone be able to tell whether the result is a success or not? Well, one would be hard-pressed to find someone who has tried the original whiskies and testify. But here is the cool bit: Wright, alongside the names, acquired the recipes that all those distilleries were using. More than that, rumour has it that he owns samples of many of those distilleries' original output, which means he could compare his creations to the original indeed. And the result is this collection, about which not much is published, still.

I first discovered it in my first whisky book, Michael Jackson's World Guide to Whisky, Dorling Kindersley. MJ talked about Campbeltown and skimmed over its past glory: "[...] distilleries of Campbeltown renown live on, if only in their names [...]" I remember being puzzled by names like Rieclachan and Drumore, which I had never heard before and could find no other information about. Only twenty-five years later would I unveil a little more (thank you, Internet).
For the longest time, I thought the content of these was the same and only the labels differed. Then I thought they added more or less E150 to this or that bottle to give it a more individual hue (clearly, I did not know J&A Mitchell very well: they have never added colouring to anything). Having now tried several, I can say it is not so: they are all different. How many were there, and when were they released? More questions without answers for many years. Time and Internet have shed light on some aspects, not all.
It is unclear, for example, what whiskies Wright used to reproduce the old profiles. At the time, J&A Mitchell already owned Cadenhead, so it is relatively safe to think it was not only Springbank, but Cadenhead stocks. The Springbank bottling, labelled as the sole survivor, is also labelled as a vatted (blended) malt. Is it so? Springbank stocks were available, at the time, so why recreate the profile from other distillates? What about Longrow, which Springbank started making again in 1973, twelve years prior to this collection? There seems to have been twenty-five labels -- and I am careful with my words, here. However, many, if not all, were released with more than one mix, which one can easily identified by the colour: pale (lemon juice), dark (chestnut), or intermediate (light honey). Potentially, that is seventy-five distinct releases. Were those released at the same time, or in waves? Who knows?

The few reviews that have popped up online have been split, with scores ranging from 60/100 to 95/100, depending on who tried it and which version they tried. My own impressions have been generally good, so far. I do plan a monster session at some point, but for now, it is the sporadic tasting here and there.

And we will have one today. We are leaving Kintyre for a few hours. This one seems fitting.

Kintyre 12yo (40%, Eaglesome Campbeltown Commemoration, b. ca. 1985): nose: fresh, fruity and floral, it has cut apples, crisp and sweet. Perhaps the most minute smoke in the distance, and dried honeysuckle. Mouth: a lot softer than the other ones from this series that I have tried, so far. It has more crisp apple, a vaguely mineral note and banana skins. Finish: apple crumble, with custard and a pinch of herbs, and even a gentle note of flint. It leaves the tongue a bit dry and full of lichen. Lovely. 8/10

...aaaaaand, the ferry is here