23/05/2019 Campbeltown Festival 2019 (Day 1 -- Part 1) Springbank Open Day Bar

Astonishing how quickly the years go and festivals come back.

Before anything, lining the stomach. Café Bluebell does the trick.

Egg-and-black-pudding roll for JS

Egg-black-pudding-and-potato-scone for me

Full Scottish for adc

Lots of first, today. To start with, we queue. Not that we suddenly turned into sheeple running after the festival releases (that Hazelburn looked nice on paper, though!), but JS, adc and I have been commissioned by friends who could not make it to the Wee Toon. We choose our moment unwisely, unfortunately, joining the queue at its peak. 222 bottles for that Hazelburn, you see -- I would be annoyed to not even try to get it. As it turns out, they will still have some tomorrow, but that is of course not information I have at this stage.
So, we queue. Good atmosphere in the queue, meeting friends (jazzpianofingers, some the Swisskies, MG), but a long queue nonetheless. adc has to leave at some point to join the Art and Science of Maturation masterclass. It will change her life -- and her state of inebriation. ;-)

JS and I manage to fullfil all orders and buy a couple of things for ourselves as well.

Time for another first: Springbank's Open Day Bar. Every year, Springbank has a bar, where one can buy a flight of five for a fiver. Yes, that is right. One can even choose the drams. The previous years, we were too busy with masterclasses to give this any attention, but this time, JS goes straight for the kill.

Springbank 1994/2019 (unknown ABV, Cask Sample, C#32) (5 on the board): nose: crisp, it has butterscotch, barley snaps, barley full stop and a hint of refined, old-school smoke. Mouth: gentle, with more butterscotch, yoghurt, roasted barley and mild smoke. In line with the nose and very pretty. Finish: much bigger, here, the finish has farm-y notes and ethereal smoke. An old-school dram that I like a lot. Good start! 8/10

Springbank 1997/2019 No.4 (57%, Cask Sample, C#07/178-4) (25 on the board): nose: this one has an old toolbox, copper coins, blackcurrant and a shade of shoe polish. Mouth: soft, toffee-like, with fudge, though it is slightly drying. Finish: long, dry and syrupy, it tastes like a rum cask. I love it. 8/10

RG pops up and pours me this (I pour something in return, of course):

Ardbeg 25yo 1993/2019 (51.6%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection, Hogshead, 216b): nose: dust, malt grist, mild smoke and dry staves. Mouth: warming, with caramelised jam. Finish: roasted barley, Horlicks, Cracottes (wheat crackers) and charcoal. I liked it when it came out. Now, it reminds me of a freshly-opened 197x official single cask. 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, RG)

EC, BH, CB and DH join us too. They will walk in and out of our immediate surroundings.

Springbank 1995/2019 No.4 (unknown ABV, Cask Sample, Fresh Sherry Butt, C#96/187) (28 on the board): nose: super fruity, with plums, caramelised apricot and prunes. Mouth: it turns more bitter, here, with rubber, though it retains an assertive fruitiness. Finish: fruit and rubber. The latter is divisive, but it stays on the right side, as far as I am concerned. 8/10

The French/Swiss contingent appears. More greeting and sharing.

Springbank 1997/2019 (50.2%, Cask Sample, Refill Bourbon, C#16/277-17) (30 on the board): nose: soft, fresh and crisp, with a subtle fish note. Mouth: sweet, gently drying, with some wood influence. Finish: soft wood (birch), dry wood dust and rancio. 7/10

Longrow 2007/2019 (unknown ABV, Cask Sample Pacific Edge USA, C#713) (42 on board): the "Pacific Edge" reference is unclear; is this something that was bottled for and imported by them? Is it earmarked for them? Is it a cask that belongs to them? The latter seems unlikely, since we are trying it here. Nose: crayons and other waxy things, weirdly. Waxy orange skins, whiffs of bacon -- or is that the burger stall, over there? Mouth: fresh and unexpectedly fruity, with peach and peach stone. Finish: farm-y flavours, but it remains fresh. A decent Longrow. 7/10

More people flow in and share things.

Longrow 15yo 2004/2019 (52.4%, OB for Springbank Open Day 2019, Fresh Rum Casks, 911b): nose: a bit indistinct in the beginning, it opens up to become fresh, with a spoonful of mud and waxy fruit. Mouth: it is all unripe apricot and unripe peach slices, here. Not bad, but a bit meh. Finish: shortish, fruity and, really, a bit bland. 7/10

The latest two confirm my impression of modern Longrow. The colloquially-known 'Classic,' the NAS, is a fantastic bang for your buck. Everything more fancy is simply not as good as I would like it to be.

Five for a fiver

Time for the warehouse tasting.