On this episode of Scran we are previewing one of the hottest whisky dates on the calendar - the Campbeltown Malts Festival. Despite being one of the smaller whisky regions, Campbeltown really does pack a punch and Rosalind wanted to find out what fans could look forward to at this year's event, particularly the bottlings.
Glen Scotia recently held a preview event in Edinburgh where Rosalind went along to hear all about the exclusive offerings to be had at the upcoming festival;
You'll hear from Gary Mills, Global Brand Ambassador who hosted a session to deconstruct the festival bottling and what an eye-opener it was.
After that session Rosalind chatted with Ashley Smith, Master Blender for Glen Scotia who, will for the first time this year be on hand in her new role. She talks about the history of Campbeltown and its whisky heritage as well as what she's looking forward to at this year's festival.
From Glen Scotia to Springbank! A few days later Rosalind caught up with David Allan, Director of Sales and Marketing for the sought-after whisky. David shared more detail on their festival releases and how they are trying to cope with demand severely outstripping supply.
Glen Scotia recently held a preview event in Edinburgh where Rosalind went along to hear all about the exclusive offerings to be had at the upcoming festival;
You'll hear from Gary Mills, Global Brand Ambassador who hosted a session to deconstruct the festival bottling and what an eye-opener it was.
After that session Rosalind chatted with Ashley Smith, Master Blender for Glen Scotia who, will for the first time this year be on hand in her new role. She talks about the history of Campbeltown and its whisky heritage as well as what she's looking forward to at this year's festival.
From Glen Scotia to Springbank! A few days later Rosalind caught up with David Allan, Director of Sales and Marketing for the sought-after whisky. David shared more detail on their festival releases and how they are trying to cope with demand severely outstripping supply.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Scran, the podcast passionate about the Scottish food and drink scene.
00:08I'm your host, Ros and Erskine, and on this episode we are previewing one of the hottest
00:12whisky dates on the calendar, the Campbeltown Malts Festival.
00:18Despite being one of the smaller whisky regions, Campbeltown really does pack a punch and I
00:22wanted to find out what fans could look forward to at this year's event, particularly the
00:26festival bottlings.
00:28Glenscotia recently held a preview event in Edinburgh, where I went along to hear all
00:31about the exclusive offerings to be had at the upcoming festival.
00:36I think what a special edition or a limited edition should also do is celebrate something
00:41or someone or even if it is just something about the distillery, for us obviously being
00:46the Campbeltown Malts Festival, but it should also be distinctly different.
00:52That's Gary Mills, Global Brand Ambassador, who hosted a session to deconstruct the festival
00:57bottling and what an eye-opener it was.
01:00More from Gary shortly.
01:03After that session I chatted with Ashley Smith, Master Blender for Glenscotia, who will for
01:08the first time this year be on hand in her new role.
01:11She talks to me about the history of Campbeltown and its whisky heritage, as well as what she's
01:15looking forward to at this year's festival.
01:18Traditionally we're looking at sherry finishes, wine finishes, rum, anything that really works
01:25with that lovely oily robust style.
01:30From Glenscotia we go down the road to Springbank.
01:33A few days later I chatted to David Allen, Director of Sales and Marketing for the sought
01:37after whisky.
01:38David shared more detail on their festival releases and how they're trying to cope with
01:42demand severely outstripping supply.
01:47And these bottlings will be available in 35cl bottles and the reason we do that is
01:52because the limited stock goes that bit further.
01:57Here's Gary deconstructing Glenscotia's 90 year old festival bottling.
02:01Oh, and I should say, you'll hear him mention PPM.
02:04That stands for phenol parts per million.
02:07This number gives an indication of how intense the smoky flavour will be.
02:1154 PPM would be considered quite a heavily peated flavour.
02:15Gary also mentions Mr McAllister, who's the Distillery Manager and Master Distiller at
02:19Glenscotia Distillery.
02:24The Campbeltown Monks Festival edition has a very, very special place in my heart always
02:29well.
02:30A very biased point of view because I did the very first one back in 2018 and it was
02:36a Ruby Port 2008 vintage and we've kind of obviously done one from each year from then.
02:43The whole rationale behind it is to try and take that celebration of Campbeltown, a celebration
02:49of the history, of the heritage, but also celebrating where we are now, celebrating
02:54that resurgence of Campbeltown.
02:56So we're now at a stage where we're able to do in the region of 25,000 bottles of this
03:01and it allows us to go global.
03:04So we know there are only a very small proportion of people that can come to see us in Campbeltown.
03:08Like I said, we appreciate it's a difficult place to get to.
03:12This allows us to take that celebration truly globally and it's like I said, it's putting
03:16that spotlight on the town at that time where we're all having that celebration.
03:21So what we've got is we're going to have three drinks.
03:24So this year's is a nine-year-old heavily peated spirit finished in Ribera del Duero
03:30wine casks.
03:31So the spirit that you have in your hands is the heavily peated first style bourbon
03:36spirit.
03:37So it's looking at that base spirit that we have.
03:41Limited edition and special editions for me really should be two things.
03:46It should be very different from your core range.
03:48Still have some of that absolute DNA of the brand, of the distillate in there, but it's
03:54your, it's realistically it's your permission to go to the outer limits and really kind
03:59of stretch the extremes of that DNA and take you to the limits that you maybe wouldn't
04:05associate with a core range whiskey.
04:07I think what a special edition or a limited edition should also do, it should celebrate
04:12something or someone or even if it is just something about the distillery, something
04:17that's going on at that distillery, like for us obviously being the Campbelltown Malts
04:21Festival, but it should also be distinctly different.
04:24So Glenscotia as you know it, is not necessarily peated.
04:30It may come as a shock to most of you that there is peat in a lot of the core range,
04:33but it's a very small amount.
04:35We're talking 5-10%.
04:38The main thing that the peated whiskeys in the core range is doing is adding that kind
04:41of spice, background spice character to the whiskeys that are there.
04:46We only produce peat for between four and six weeks total and 2016, so nine year old
04:52means this liquid coming from 2016, before I go on let's have a wee smell and a wee nose
04:57at the whiskey and see what we think.
04:59We're looking at 54 ppm and what hopefully you'll get on the nose is not 54 ppm.
05:06It's not what I would expect from that real heavily peated level and I think this talks
05:11to one of Mr McAllister's favourite words for a very very good reason, balance.
05:16Glenscotia spirits across the board have a wonderful balance and it's very evident in
05:22this spirit because again we are at 59%, doesn't nose like that at all and I think
05:29again when you get it onto the palate, I don't think you'll get that either.
05:34On the nose I get a lot of dry hay, it's a very dusty kind of peat character.
05:39So first fill bourbon, for the record this is a 2014, this is a wee bit older than the
05:44liquid we've used, but that's just got a genuinely amazing balance I think.
05:49I get that kind of, it's not burnt hay, it's that kind of singed hay slightly up front
05:56which softens ever so slightly but it comes right back and I think a big part of that's
06:01to do with the oils, the Campbelltown spirit.
06:03Just keeps those flavours in the palate without overwhelming you for sure.
06:08But 2016 we were producing between around 100 and 120,000 litres in a year.
06:14To give you the context, we are now pushing 800,000 just now on an annual basis and doing
06:20the sums on where the amount of liquid we've got in this is ultimately every bit of juice
06:25that we produced from the peated run in 2016.
06:29We're talking 14,000 litres of pure alcohol, that's about 10-12% of the whole production
06:35of Glenscotia in that year going into this.
06:38I will now dish out number two which, no massive surprise, is the Ribera del Duero red wine.
06:45It's down to the art of the blending team, selecting the right wood and also selecting
06:51that length of finish.
06:53The specifics for me are about picking the right wine to go with the right spirit and
06:59that is where, like I said, the blending team and the wood policy and the wood management
07:03really comes through to its fore.
07:05We have chosen for this one is a Ribera del Duero, the wine region in the north-west of
07:09Spain, translates to the Banks of the Douro which is a 550 mile long river going from
07:16the north-west of Spain through into Portugal and what that's doing, the river plays a central
07:21role to that region from a terroir point of view ultimately where water retains heat or
07:28retains temperature better than the air around it.
07:32It's very dry, it's very arid, so what the river is doing is helping cooling the vineyards.
07:37What that also helps do is when the temperature drops overnight it's stopping the grapes from
07:42ripening further, it's locking in those acids which really helps build a big, bold, fruity
07:49red wine and I think that's what we've got in spades in this one.
07:54You're getting a little more spice on this one than you're going to get through and I
07:58think again, it's a difficult one to be able to do your finishing liquid versus the finished
08:03liquid because you're not necessarily going to be able to correlate direct flavours, X
08:07equals X, especially when we think we're only doing a finish of five months, it's more about
08:12the influence of those casks, so it's just about that, giving you the idea of the fruits
08:17and the flavours you're going to get from the red wine from here.
08:20So this one is a 2018, oak barrels for 13 months and this one's at 14% I think.
08:27So in terms of flavour profile, broadly for a Ribera del Duero, it's all about those big,
08:34rich, dark fruits.
08:36Blackberry, cassis, the mouthfeel on it's magnificent, there's a kind of velvety, kind
08:41of vanilla through into the tannins.
08:44What I think you were going to get, the fruit layering on top of the Glen Scotia spirit,
08:48so Campbelltown spirits are big, robust flavours, they are oily, there is sea salt, there's
08:55that salinity, there is that spice through the finished whiskeys.
08:59Glen Scotia is a fruit character, so we do have very long fermentation, which gives us
09:04a kind of red apple more through Glen Scotia and the layering of that red fruit on top
09:09of the Glen Scotia spirit is just wonderful.
09:13So the wine smells amazing, you could have a big glass of that with a steak or something,
09:16it's really nice.
09:17Big bold flavours, like Ari said, I'm getting the vanilla and the black currant fruits.
09:22The whisky, I was getting more sort of like, smoky BBQ, sweet BBQ than hay, but I know
09:27what he means.
09:28And it's really, really spicy and got a very long finish, so I'm intrigued to see what
09:32the two combined are like.
09:34Andy's going to come round and now fill your empty glass with the finished product.
09:38Nine years old, finished for five months in the Ribera del Duero, and we are at 54.3,
09:47so full cask strength, natural colour, non-child filtered, all the kind of good things you
09:52really expect from a limited edition Campbeltown single malt whisky.
09:57It's one of the key principles of the Campbeltown Malts Festival edition as well, is that cask
10:04strength, natural colour.
10:06It's allowed us a flexibility to use and go a bit heavier handed on some of the cask finishes
10:12that we maybe wouldn't do through the core range.
10:14Put more focus on that cask finish rather than the classic Campbeltown style.
10:21So, it's in first fill bourbon for the first eight years, seven months, and then the final
10:27five months in the Ribera del Duero, where you still get the influence, you still get
10:30that very clear red fruit influence, but it doesn't subdue that Campbeltown spirit too
10:36much.
10:37Here, obviously, we are focusing much more on that heavily peated element, which I think
10:42doesn't come through as much on the nose, obviously, versus the heavily peated spirit,
10:46because that's what that was.
10:49It allows more of the bourbon influence to come through.
10:51I'm getting the vanilla.
10:53I do get a bit of the salinity on the nose, actually.
10:55It's got a wee go, sludge of that.
10:58So, I get that burnt hay up front again, but then it's through into those unctuous red
11:04fruits.
11:06Darker fruits again.
11:07I'm probably getting more cherry, personally, for me.
11:10Yeah, then through the vanilla, and that salinity just comes through with that drying tannins
11:16at the end.
11:17So, hopefully that's given you a little insight into this year's limited edition festival
11:23release.
11:25Yeah, it's really, really lovely.
11:28It does smell a bit less peated.
11:30It's still quite spicy on the finish, but yet a lot more fruits, as Gary said.
11:35You can tell that it's the sort of marriage of the two, and it definitely doesn't taste
11:39like it's the ABV that it has.
11:41It's really lovely.
11:42I've actually got quite a few of their previous years.
11:44It reminds me of, they did a really nice red wine finish a few years ago.
11:48It reminds me a bit of that, although I don't think that was peated.
11:51I think it'd go really well with cheese, because that other one does.
11:54Yeah, I think if you do a peated whisky, you'll love it.
11:56If you're not 100% sure, I think you'll still be worth trying it, because it's not too strong.
12:01Yeah, it's really good.
12:02It's a really nice whisky.
12:05Thank you very much, everyone.
12:10I started by asking Ashley to tell us a little about the history of Campbeltown and its whisky.
12:14You'll hear an excerpt from the session she gave on 10 years of Victoriana II.
12:20It's a region with such rich history, especially when it comes to distillation.
12:25It's one of the five whisky-making regions.
12:29To be classed as a whisky region, you have to have a minimum of three distilleries.
12:33So Glenscotia is one of the remaining three distilleries.
12:37Obviously, today it's legal, but back in the late 1700s,
12:44there was really a lot of illicit distillation going on in the entire peninsula.
12:48And that was really down to the implementation of the Walsh Act in 1784,
12:53which drove distillation underground.
12:55Campbeltown became the whisky capital of the world,
12:58or it was known as the whisky capital of the world.
13:00And it's really down to the geography of the region.
13:04And it's really down to the geography and the history of the region
13:09that allowed it to become such a boom town during that time.
13:14There was a number of favourable factors.
13:16So when the Walsh Act of 1784 was repealed in 1823,
13:21all these illicit distillers came up from underground.
13:24And there was a local skilled workforce that were able to take advantage
13:28of that boom period and the demand for whisky.
13:32Loads of natural resources, so farmland and abundance for growing barley.
13:37There's history records even of mining taking place
13:40in the entire peninsula as far back as the 1600s.
13:43So they had a local cheap fuel source.
13:45The Duke of Argyll had commissioned the creation of Crosshill Lock.
13:49So there was soft water, clean water for the distilleries to use for process,
13:54cooling water.
13:55And just down to its natural geography, it's in a deep natural harbour.
14:01This would be the first port of call for ships coming in from the New World,
14:05taking shelter from the North Atlantic.
14:07So bringing in casks from across the New World, sherries, ports, wines.
14:11And with the invention of the steam engine in the Victorian age as well,
14:16steam puffers would have meant that Glasgow was just a few hours away from Campbelltown.
14:21So a real favourable set of circumstances,
14:24which led to Campbelltown being such a rich distilling town.
14:28Yeah, so at one point it went down to two distilleries.
14:31There's now three, but there's a bit of a resurgence happening.
14:33Is that right?
14:34That's correct.
14:35So as I said, to be classed as a whisky-making region,
14:38you have to have a minimum of three distilleries.
14:41At one point, there was up to 26 operational distilleries at any one town in Campbelltown.
14:46It's not got quite to those heady heights yet,
14:48but there are a couple new distilleries on the horizon.
14:52And I think that's such a fantastic thing for the region.
14:55Arguably, in terms of flavour, it's one of the most distinctive and recognisable.
14:59That lovely, oily, robust spirit.
15:02That maritime influence.
15:04And yeah, the more of the stuff, the better.
15:06And it would probably do a lot for the festival as well,
15:09like having a few other distilleries.
15:11That's true.
15:12Each of the distilleries has their own day that celebrates their unique spirit.
15:17So obviously, there's that unique, oily, robust Campbelltown style.
15:21The thread runs through the three distilleries.
15:23But we all have our unique core range, but also our unique histories.
15:27And the Malts Festival is really a celebration,
15:30not only of the distilleries, but the community and the towns as well.
15:34And so Glenscotia will be hosting guests on the 20th of May.
15:39There'll be live music, tasting, workshops.
15:42I'll be hosting a Decade of Victoriana,
15:45which is one of our multi-award winning core range whiskies,
15:48which really celebrates and pays homage to the history
15:52and the whiskies coming out of Campbelltown during the boom time.
15:55There'll be a Dunnage tasting with Ian McAllister,
15:57who's our master distiller and distillery manager.
16:01Walking tours.
16:02There's just a whole host of really fun activities
16:04that brings the community together
16:06and allows people to really get a feel for what Campbelltown is all about.
16:11And obviously, on the 20th of May,
16:13get a feel for what Glenscotia is really all about as well.
16:16And as part of that, you've got your festival bottling coming out,
16:19which we've had a little sneak peek tonight.
16:21Could you tell us a bit about the process of how that all comes together?
16:24So it's planned pretty far in advance of the festival itself.
16:28It's a really collaborative effort with marketing,
16:32the distillery, members of the community,
16:34getting a feel for what they really love about Glenscotia.
16:37But ultimately, the festival release is something
16:40that we can really showcase what Glenscotia is all about.
16:45And when it comes to cast finishes,
16:47we want to be really sympathetic to the history of Glenscotia
16:51and that maritime coastal influence,
16:54so casts that were coming in from the New World on the ships,
16:58taking birth in the natural deep harbour that Campbelltown is located in.
17:03So traditionally, we're looking at sherry finishes,
17:07wine finishes, rum,
17:09anything that really works with that lovely, oily, robust style.
17:13And this year's festival is finished for five months in Ribera del Duero casks.
17:18They're from the Castilla y LeĂłn region in the north of Spain,
17:22and they work really well with that oily, robust style
17:25that is really synonymous with Glenscotia,
17:28adding a layer of sweetness.
17:30The festival bottlings really allow us to experiment
17:34and showcase some really rare whiskies.
17:37And with Glenscotia only having a four-week peated run,
17:41this heavily peated spirit that we're showcasing in this year's festival
17:45is a really rare gem,
17:46and I'm so excited to share it with people.
17:48What are you most looking forward to this year?
17:50I am really excited.
17:52This is my first outing as Master Blender of Glenscotia at the festival.
17:57I've visited festivals and attended festivals in the past,
18:01but to see it from that lens
18:03and get chatting to folk in the local community
18:07and getting their feedback on the spirit,
18:09it's just going to be such a joy.
18:11And really, it's such a wonderful place to be during the festival.
18:15There's such life and joy and fun going on in the town.
18:21In the Victorian age, with the invention of the steam engine,
18:24there would have been steam puffers going between Campbelltown
18:27and the Blending Houses in Glasgow in a matter of hours,
18:31which was a huge advantage for Campbelltown
18:33versus some of the distilleries in the Highlands and Speysides,
18:36where it could take days, if not weeks, for the whisky to be transported.
18:42But with these steam ships,
18:43the sherry casks were being transported
18:46between the Blending Houses and Campbelltown itself.
18:50And as I say, there's some really fun records
18:54where there's been some arguments between the distillers themselves
18:57and the Blending Houses about who actually owns the casks
19:00and who's going to pay for the transport back and forth
19:03between the distilleries and the Blend House itself.
19:07And so we've elected, which is your next drink tonight,
19:11we finish Victoriana and PX casks as well for one year.
19:16So we take the backbone, the base blend, and we...
19:23You've talked about 10 years of Victoriana,
19:25we've talked about the potential future of Campbelltown whisky.
19:28In 10 years' time, the Campbelltown Malts Festival,
19:30what would you like to see?
19:31That is a fantastic question.
19:33Just more of the same, really.
19:35If you get the chance to come up to the Wee Toon
19:37and visit during the festival,
19:39you will just get such a sense of community
19:44and enjoy and embrace everything that Campbelltown is about.
19:48Obviously, Glenscotia featuring heavily.
19:51Celebrating 20 years of Victoriana would be an absolute amazing thing to do.
19:56We're actually celebrating 10 years of the Malts Festival, I believe,
20:00in 2028.
20:02So, yeah, just going from strength to strength.
20:05Well, thank you very much.
20:06You're very welcome.
20:07It's been a pleasure to chat to you.
20:08And I'll see you there.
20:16I'm now joined by David Allen,
20:17the Sales and Marketing Director for Springbank and Campbelltown.
20:20Hi, David, how are you?
20:22I'm very well, thanks. Yourself?
20:24Yeah, good, thank you.
20:25So we are going to chat a little bit about
20:27what you guys are up to for the Malts Festival.
20:29But for anyone that doesn't know,
20:31could you just tell me a little bit about Springbank?
20:33I know you're one of the sort of cult whiskies in Scotland.
20:36Yeah, we were founded back in 1828.
20:39And for anybody that's been to visit us,
20:42you probably think not much has changed since 1828.
20:45We're a very traditional distillery
20:48using very traditional methods to make our whisky,
20:51a very hands-on approach.
20:52And I think we're still actually the only distillery
20:55that can claim to do 100% of the process on site.
20:59So all our malting is done on our malt floors at Springbank.
21:03So we don't buy in any malt at all.
21:05Every last drop of whisky has come from barley,
21:07which has been malted on our own malt floors,
21:10which is a sort of space and time and resource
21:14sort of consuming process,
21:15which is why lots of other people don't do it.
21:18Then, you know, right through to the production,
21:20even the bottling is carried out on site in Campbelltown.
21:23So we, I guess, yeah, make a fairly small amount of whisky.
21:29Using a lot of people.
21:31So very inefficient, in other words.
21:33And is it that sort of small batch method
21:36that makes it so sought after?
21:37Like, you know, you've gone from,
21:39you've probably not changed very much,
21:40but your profile has gone kind of through the roof
21:43and there's queues at the door for the shop
21:44and all that kind of thing.
21:45Yeah, I think society is very much more interested
21:48in the provenance of what they're eating and drinking.
21:51And there's more sort of education available.
21:54And people are just sort of finding their way to us.
21:56As you say, we've not really changed anything
21:58that we're doing, but I guess our processes
22:02and the way we run our business
22:03just resonates with more and more people now.
22:05And we didn't make enough whisky,
22:07or the previous generation didn't make enough whisky
22:10for their current demand.
22:11And we came in this sort of situation
22:13where there's queues out the doors for on release day
22:17and many other days throughout the year.
22:19And Springbank is quite a difficult whisky
22:21to get a hold of now.
22:22Yeah, which makes your festival day probably very busy.
22:27So you just tell us a little bit about
22:28what events you've got coming up
22:30for the Campbelltown Malts Festival.
22:31Originally, our Malts Festival was one day.
22:34It was a Springbank open day,
22:35just one day during the week,
22:37but it's sort of grown and we've got events
22:39on all through the week
22:40where we have a charity tasting on a Monday night.
22:44This year, for the first time ever,
22:45we're taking people out to one of the farms
22:48that grows local barley for us,
22:49where they can try some local barley
22:51and meet the farmer who's grown the barley.
22:53We have a malts dinner
22:56where people come along and have a dinner in a malt barn
22:59and take away a bottle of whisky
23:01that they've sort of picked from one of the casks
23:03that they were able to sample.
23:05And then on the day itself,
23:07we have lots of different events.
23:08We have sort of free events
23:10like live malting demonstrations,
23:12lots of tastings,
23:13some of which will be maybe specific
23:16to what's in our cage in our shop,
23:19you know, special cast samples.
23:21Another tasting will be sort of new and forthcoming releases.
23:23You're getting a chance to taste
23:25what's coming up in the future.
23:28We have our open day bottles.
23:31We have local traders joining in live music.
23:35It's just a lot of fun, really, and a lot of whisky.
23:38Yeah, and do you find that it's really, really busy as well?
23:40So all the people who would be wanting to come and buy anywhere
23:43are then coming to Campbelltown to see you for these events.
23:46Yeah, it's really busy.
23:48I think the biggest barrier to growing the festival in Campbelltown
23:51is the accommodation supply.
23:53Over the course of a week,
23:55I think we have something like 2,000 tickets available
23:58for different events.
23:59So if you manage to make it to Campbelltown,
24:02you should be able to get onto something,
24:04whether it's a bookable on the day event
24:06or something like that.
24:07Or I think we still have some spaces on our Friday,
24:10our Kilkerran open day on the cocktail session.
24:13So there's still tickets available for people to come,
24:15but because we're so far away from everything else,
24:19people generally need accommodation
24:21and unless you are lucky enough to snap up
24:23some accommodation a year in advance,
24:25you'll probably need to use a campsite somewhere,
24:29which is fine.
24:30So yeah, we're busy and the reputation is growing and growing
24:34and more people want to come and join us, which is great.
24:37And you mentioned Kilkerran there.
24:39For anyone that doesn't know,
24:40could you just explain a little bit about what that is?
24:43Yeah, so Kilkerran is made at our sister distillery, Glengyle.
24:46So that's just basically next door to Springbank.
24:49We produce Springbank distillery for nine months of the year
24:52and then for the last three months of the year,
24:54production guys move up to Glengyle
24:55to produce Kilkerran single malt for the last three months.
24:59And it's just turned 21 yesterday, actually.
25:02So it's quite a new distillery with a sort of long history,
25:05originally founded back in 1872
25:07by one of the brothers who founded Springbank
25:09or was working at Springbank.
25:10And as many families do, the two brothers had an argument,
25:13so William left Springbank to set up Glengyle.
25:16It closed down in the 1920s,
25:18but we resurrected it at the turn of the millennium.
25:21In 2004, the stills were running again.
25:23So it's an important part of Campbelltown's whiskey history
25:27and gives us the third distillery in the region
25:31so we can maintain that regional status.
25:33So it's an important distillery
25:34and the whiskey that we have there
25:36is the Kilkerran single malt.
25:38We felt that was enough to justify
25:40having its own open day as well,
25:42which is much the same format.
25:43We have tastings and live music
25:46and local trades and crafts selling their produce as well.
25:51And what about your festival bottlings?
25:53I mean, I know a lot of people come to see the distillery
25:56and meet people and experience the whole area,
25:58but a lot of people, what they want is the festival bottling.
26:01So what have you got this year?
26:03We have a different bottling
26:04for every single malt that we produce.
26:06So we have a Springbank 10-year-old this year.
26:09So the standard 10-year-old that we produce,
26:12which is our flagship whiskey,
26:13is bottled at 46%.
26:15We thought it'd be quite fun to do a cask-strength
26:17Springbank 10-year-old for the festival.
26:20Hazelburn, which is our triple distilled,
26:22non-peated single malt that we produce.
26:24It's a 19-year-old
26:26and has spent the full 19 years in fresh Tawny Port casks.
26:29So it's a nice older Hazelburn in the lineup.
26:33Then we have a Longrow 10-year-old,
26:36which has been matured in fresh Oloroso casks,
26:39as well as a nice rich sherried Longrow,
26:41our more heavily peated whiskey.
26:44And then our Coquerin bottling on the Friday
26:47is going to be a 20-year-old single cask bottling as well.
26:51And these bottlings will be available in 35cl bottles.
26:55And the reason we do that is because
26:57the limited stock goes that bit further.
26:59We were aware that there was lots of people
27:02would come down to the festival for bottles
27:04and we'd have sold out of our festival bottling
27:07within the first couple of hours.
27:08So we introduced these smaller bottles
27:12that are a bit cheaper as well because they're half the size.
27:15And if you turn up later on the day,
27:17you should still be able to get a festival bottling.
27:19So what we're trying to do is, I guess,
27:21discourage people from queuing overnight
27:23for our festival bottlings.
27:24You don't need to do that.
27:24You can come down, enjoy the day, do some tastings,
27:29and then rock up in the afternoon
27:31and get yourself any of the bottlings that are available.
27:34And how far in advance do you guys work for these things?
27:38For example, do you know what next year's festival bottling
27:40is going to be for all these brands?
27:42No, not as far as that.
27:44It'd be great to be that organized.
27:46We kind of have a fair idea of maybe
27:48what casks are available to us,
27:51what pockets of casks are available.
27:53So we kind of maybe have a few years worth of ideas,
27:57but we don't really firm anything up
27:59until maybe six months before the festival.
28:04And as usual, it's a nice job
28:05sort of going through the stocks and selecting casks
28:08and putting something together
28:10that people are going to appreciate.
28:11Yeah, that sounds like a great job.
28:14So what is it that you look forward to most
28:16about the festival?
28:17It's definitely just seeing everybody.
28:20We get people from all over the world,
28:22from Australia, from the US, from Asia.
28:25And I still can't believe that they come
28:27all the way down to the bottom of the Mull of Kintyre
28:29just for a malts festival.
28:31But it's great.
28:31So you meet so many different nationalities.
28:33Lots of people come every year,
28:35so it's just good to catch up with people.
28:37And we're all here because of the whisky
28:39and just sharing stories, sharing drums
28:42and just good vibes, really.
28:45And the tastings that we do
28:47seem to become more relaxed and informal every year
28:51as people just get accustomed
28:52to the sort of Campbelltown Malts Festival vibe.
28:55So a great week, really.
28:57It's not even fair to say a day or two days
28:59because people have started coming
29:01for a full sort of Monday to Saturday now.
29:04So I mean, and that's another thing
29:05that's great for local bed and breakfast restaurants
29:09and everyone.
29:09So, you know, the community is benefiting
29:11from what started off originally as just one day
29:14and now grown into this week-long festival.
29:17And with the new distilleries that are coming down the line,
29:19I know they're maybe a little bit far off,
29:21but do you see it becoming even bigger?
29:24Like, could it become, like, face on Islay
29:26in terms of that wee bit longer
29:27and, you know, you're having more distilleries opening?
29:30Yeah, absolutely.
29:30Hopefully, yeah.
29:31And actually invite some of the distilleries to our open day
29:35so they can come and showcase the plans
29:37and talk to people about, you know,
29:39when they're going to be breaking ground
29:40and what they're planning to do.
29:42So yeah, we very much encourage that.
29:44And again, if it encourages people to come and visit us,
29:47even outside of the Malts Festival
29:49and makes Campbelltown more of a sort of destination,
29:52as you say, sort of as maybe Islay is
29:55or our space side of Campbelltown
29:56can be a bigger destination to draw people.
29:58So they stay here for longer than a couple of days,
30:01all the better.
30:03So how can people find out more about the festival?
30:05Yeah, if anybody has,
30:07any of your listeners want any information about the festival,
30:11they go onto our website.
30:12We have a designated email address,
30:15festivalatspringbank.scot, yeah.
30:17They can email that, get some information,
30:19keep up with our socials.
30:21We'll be posting there.
30:23Something we've maybe not done previously
30:25is broadcast sort of live from the day and things like that.
30:28And we'll try and do a bit more of that this year
30:30so people get a real understanding of the atmosphere
30:33and hopefully come along next year
30:35if they haven't made it this year.
30:36So I know we've mentioned the new distilleries,
30:38but how do you think the festival can grow
30:40over the next few years?
30:42We have something like 2000 tickets available
30:45for our various bits and pieces,
30:48tastings and dinners throughout the week.
30:50So we are kind of probably at capacity for what we can do.
30:56So I guess we are relying on other distilleries
30:59or independent bottlers.
31:00You know, we have Cadden Heads, our sort of sister bottler.
31:03They sort of run events throughout the whole week as well.
31:06And Glen Scotia can, you know,
31:08expand what they're doing all the better.
31:10And then as you see, the next part of that
31:12will be the new distilleries coming on board
31:14and doing their own events as well.
31:16And just looking to the rest of 2025,
31:19do you have anything exciting coming up
31:20you can tell us about?
31:21We do have, it's a new whisky
31:24that we're going to launch
31:25as part of the Springbank core range.
31:27So the Springbank 10 year old
31:29is really our flagship whisky from Springbank,
31:32but we're going to introduce a Springbank
31:34five year old 100 proof.
31:36So it's five years old,
31:37100 proof means it's bottled at 57.1% ABV.
31:41And for the first time in our core range,
31:43the maturation of this whisky
31:45will be 100% bourbon casks.
31:47So normally the other whiskies,
31:50the 10, the 12, 15
31:51are usually a mixture of bourbon and sherry casks
31:53or all sherry in case of the 15.
31:57So we thought it'd be really cool
31:59to bottle a younger Springbank
32:02in bourbon to really sort of showcase
32:04the character of the spirit
32:06and the sort of, it's like the 10 year old
32:08but more amplified almost
32:10with the volume turned up.
32:11So it's a great whisky
32:13and it means there's going to be
32:14a bit more Springbank in the market
32:16and hopefully on the shelf
32:17for people to come across
32:19and be able to buy a bottle,
32:20not be too scared about finishing it
32:22and not knowing where the next bottle is coming from.
32:26Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it?
32:27There must be, I mean, the people who love it.
32:28I mean, my partner's mum
32:31lives in Mike Hannish
32:32and for Christmas a few years
32:34she got us the caged bottles
32:36and we drank them
32:37because we wanted to drink them
32:39and I think there'll be a lot of people
32:40who are like, oh my goodness,
32:41you shouldn't have done that.
32:42But yeah, I guess there's people
32:44who want to just drink it
32:44because they love it
32:45and then there's the people
32:46who are really seeking it out
32:47because they know it's worth something
32:48in the secondary market.
32:49I mean, so yeah,
32:50if you guys can get maybe a bit more out there
32:52maybe that might help more people try it.
32:55Yeah, that's it
32:56and that's the most frustrating thing
32:58about Springbank
32:59in the last maybe sort of five plus years
33:01is that it's become so scarce
33:03and people outside of your usual
33:05sort of whiskey circles
33:07find something that's limited and scarce.
33:09They can flip it and make a profit on it.
33:11So we found that
33:13our traditional customers or drinkers
33:15are sort of losing out to people
33:17who are prepared to queue up
33:18overnight for bottles
33:20or use software to get bottles online
33:23and then even in our own supply chain
33:25we have to be wary of people
33:27potentially enhancing the price
33:29to take advantage of that demand
33:31whereas we really want our whiskey
33:33to be fairly priced
33:34so people will drink it
33:36and not be too scared to open it
33:38and hopefully come back
33:40and buy another bottle
33:41because that's how whiskey business works.
33:43It's repeated customers.
33:44So the whiskey is no good
33:46sitting in somebody's cupboard
33:47in a tucked away in an attic somewhere.
33:49So we want people to drink it
33:51and buy more.
33:53Yeah, well, that sounds great
33:54and I'm looking forward to
33:56trying the Fivey Dode if I can.
33:57But yeah, thank you very much.
33:59It's been lovely to meet you and chat to you
34:01and I'll hopefully see you in May.
34:03Yeah, I look forward to it.
34:04Thank you very much.
34:10Thanks to my guests for being on this episode
34:12and thanks to you two for listening.
34:14Please remember to rate, review and subscribe
34:16so you never miss an episode of Scran.
34:18Scran is co-produced and hosted by me, Roslyn Derskin
34:21and co-produced, edited and mixed by Kelly Crichton.
34:25And if you love whiskey
34:26please sign up to our Scotsman Whiskey Club newsletter
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