Buy rare and selected Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Campbeltown is picturesquely situated on the Kintyre peninsula in the county of Argyll and Bute. The small town nestles on Campbeltown Loch and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Firth of Clyde. The seaside town of Campbeltown, surrounded by mountains, lies at the end of the Kintyre peninsula and was the centre of whisky production until the middle of the 19th century and, due to its sheltered location, a hotspot for illegal whisky distillers. Campbeltown s history as a whisky centre dates back to the 17th century, when it was still called Kinlochkilkerran. Due to its remote location, illegal whisky distilling flourished here for a long time, as customs controls were difficult to carry out.
At its peak, when whisky could be legally distilled under licence, the town had 34 distilleries, which is why it calls itself the whisky capital of the world and is now one of Scotland s five officially recognised whisky regions, alongside the Highlands, Lowlands, Islay and Speyside.
However, the decline began with the depletion of local coal deposits, which made production more expensive and when peat deposits in the peninsula area became scarce at the beginning of the 20th century and the grain harvested there was no longer sufficient for all the distilleries, the production of whisky in this region became less and less worthwhile and Prohibition in the USA (1920-1933), where a large part of the Campbeltown whiskies were exported, meant that many distilleries had to give up and close.
Today, there are only three active distilleries in Campbeltown that still produce a flavourful and exceptional whisky: Springbank, Glen Scotia and Glengyle. Of these, Springbank is certainly by far the most successful and best-known distillery. It produces three different single malts: the lightly peated and 2.5 times distilled Springbank, the heavily peated and double distilled Longrow and the unpeated and triple distilled Hazelburn. Springbank still malts some of its own barley on its own malting floors. The Springbank distillery attaches particular importance to tradition in the production of its single malts, the bottlings are not chill-filtered and have no added colour - unlike most other brands and one of the few distilleries in Scotland that carries out every step of the whisky production process itself, from malting the barley to bottling.
The distillate is predominantly matured in ex-bourbon or sherry casks, although Springbank also experiments with rum and wine casks. The 10 and 15 year standard bottlings have 46% vol., but a 57% vol. (100° proof) bottling is also available. In addition, there are numerous outstanding single cask whiskies, the special and sought-after Local Barley series, the 21 and 25 year annual releases and exclusive private bottling whiskies. The Longrow Single Malt is a very heavily peated whisky. The standard Longrow bottling is a ten-year-old whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks, while a ten-year-old variant is also bottled from a sherry cask. An experimental bottling from a Hungarian Tokaji cask is also available. Hazelburn Single Malt, the latest variant, was first produced in 1997. Hazelburn is a triple-distilled, unpeated whisky with no smoky flavours and a pleasantly light taste.

A few hundred metres away from the Springbank distillery, down a small road, stands the Glengyle distillery. In the early years of the new millennium, Mitchells Glengyle Ltd was formed to renovate and rebuild the Glengyle distillery. Over the next four years, the buildings were brought up to a new standard, taking into account the listed building status and local conditions. Two new giant stills from Invergordon, malt mills, blending and fermentation vats were installed along with the other necessary equipment. Production at the new Glengyle distillery began in 2004 and the whisky has been available since 2009. The whisky from the new Glengyle distillery is bottled under the name Kilkerran. This is done for two reasons: firstly to avoid confusion with a vatted malt of the same name, and secondly because whiskies from Campbeltown are not traditionally named after a glen.

The exception to this rule is Glen Scotia. Glen Scotia was closed for several periods of the last century, particularly in the 1980s. The distillery has been reopened with new facilities and is open to visitors. The distillery had a very stable existence in the 19th century. From 1832 to 1895, the original licence was valid, then the ownership changed twice before it was closed down in the 1920s. For a while, the distillery belonged to the owners of the Scapa distillery from Orkney, from the other end of the country and the Gibson International company, until production ceased again in 1994. The new owner was Loch Lomond Distillery Co Ltd. The buildings, including the malt houses and grain barns, are from the Victorian period and the distillery building is preserved in its original condition. Two of the former three individual stills are used. The water comes from Crosshill Loch as well as from the distillery s own well, which is over 25 metres deep. Glen Scotia has 2000 casks in stock, which are prepared for bottling a fourteen-year-old single malt at 40 per cent by volume. Glen Scotia is a slightly smoky, salty malt with a very strong nose and a long finish despite its delicate structure.

Campbeltown whiskies are known for their distinctive and often complex character, sometimes described as slightly funky or oily. Typical characteristics are the maritime influences due to the coastal location and many whiskies have a subtle saltiness and maritime notes. Despite the small number of distilleries, the region offers a remarkable variety of flavours, from strong and smoky to light and fruity, Campbeltown malts tend to be robust and intensely flavoured. Campbeltown whisky represents a small but fine niche in the whisky world, offering connoisseurs complex, characterful and often maritime-influenced drops that reflect the rich history and unique location of this Scottish region.