WRAPPING UP 2024 AT SPRINGBANK
As 2024 involves an finish, we want to want our associates a Completely satisfied New Yr and provides an replace on what’s been occurring on the distilleries this 12 months, what the workforce has been as much as, and what to stay up for subsequent 12 months.
LIMITED RELEASES
Through the second half of 2024, there have been quite a few restricted releases from our distillery. One batch, launched in August, included our Springbank 18yo and Springbank 21yo. Our November batch included the Springbank 10yo Amontillado, Springbank 12yo Cask Power, and Longrow 18yo.
Following into the brand new 12 months, the following batch in February will embody our Springbank 8yo Native Barley, Springbank 30yo, and Longrow 100 PROOF. These whiskies might be accessible to buy via the same old retail channels.
COUNTDOWN COLLECTION
The third version of our five-part Countdown Assortment sequence, designed to commemorate Springbank’s journey in the direction of its two hundredth anniversary, is about to be launched early subsequent 12 months. This upcoming bottling might be a 30 Yr Outdated Springbank matured in bourbon and sherry casks.
As with every version on this sequence, it will likely be restricted to simply 500 bottles and accessible to buy by Springbank followers all the world over. Keep tuned to our socials to search out out extra about this launch…
With every Countdown Assortment launch, a prize draw might be performed the next 12 months for purchasers who’ve returned their prize draw stub from their certificates. We just lately introduced that the highest prize in our upcoming prize draw for many who bought the 2024 Countdown Assortment 26yo bottling will once more be every week on our whisky faculty.
See extra data on this announcement and the runners up prizes right here.
All those that have saved their bottle on the Distillery Store in Campbeltown for assortment might be routinely entered into this prize draw. The winners might be introduced early subsequent 12 months!
SOCIETY BOTTLINGS
In October, we launched the second Springbank Society bottling of the 12 months, a Springbank 5yo 100 PROOF absolutely matured in Oloroso Sherry casks and bottled at 57.1% as a 70cl. This whisky was bottled for the Society to showcase the stark distinction in flavours when in comparison with the earlier Springbank 5yo 100 PROOF absolutely matured in Bourbon casks, launched in early 2023.
The upcoming Society bottling might be launched early subsequent 12 months, so keep tuned!
TASTING PACKS
After nice suggestions, we’ve got continued to make tasting packs which embody quite a lot of the harder-to-obtain whiskies from our releases. Our second tasting pack launch was bought in Summer time 2024 and included samples from our February and June 2024 releases.
To accompany this, our Gross sales Staff hosted a web-based tasting to information viewers via the drams and reply any questions they’d. Catch the replay on our Fb or YouTube Channel.
Earlier this month, we launched our most up-to-date tasting pack units which have been provided to Society members first earlier than most people sale.
The lineup for these tasting packs:
Springbank 18 Yr Outdated 46% (2024) – 2cl
Springbank 21 Yr Outdated 46% (2024) – 2cl
Kilkerran 16 Years 46% (2024) – 2cl
Springbank Amontillado Cask Matured 55% (2024) – 2cl
Springbank 12 Years Cask Power 56.2% (2024) – 2cl
Longrow 18 Yr Outdated 46% (2024) – 2cl
The subsequent on-line tasting for this tasting pack launch might be held on Thursday, thirtieth January 2025 at 7pm (GMT). Catch it reside or on replay by way of our Fb, Instagram and YouTube Channel.
We hope you may be part of us! 🥃
PRODUCTION TEAM’S DISTILLERY UPDATE
– Findlay Ross, Director of Manufacturing
As one other 12 months attracts to a detailed, we’re left asking ourselves how the 12 months has handed by so shortly? I’m reliably advised ‘it’s an age factor’ but it surely really doesn’t look like 11 months in the past we fired all the pieces again up at Springbank following our Christmas holidays, and it definitely doesn’t really feel like we needs to be in our final week of manufacturing at Glengyle as I write this!
As at all times we’ve got had our normal break up of 34 weeks of manufacturing at Springbank adopted up with 12 weeks of manufacturing at Glengyle, and this has been one of many smoothest years in current reminiscence by way of minimal disruption as a result of gear points or all the same old gremlins that include working a 196 12 months outdated distillery. Now we have put an actual give attention to preventative upkeep and increasing the vary of servicing and auditing that takes place on website lately, and we really feel like this has contributed drastically to creating certain outdated items of apparatus are flagged up and repaired or changed earlier than we get to the catastrophic failure stage.
Summer time temperatures remained a lot nearer to historic spring and autumn temperatures, which actually aided within the maltings – permitting us to maintain temperatures in that 16-20 levels celsius vary which is perfect for producing properly modified malt. it’s most likely the one constructive factor I can consider concerning the ‘summer season’ we have been handed in Scotland this 12 months!
When it comes to spirit output, we’ve got fallen barely beneath our goal of 264,000 LPA at Springbank as we stuffed 252,000 LPA into casks. One of many contributing elements to this was the actual fact we acquired way more barley from our native farmers this 12 months which allowed us to do 3 weeks of native barley manufacturing slightly than 1, the place the malt solely yielded a mean 369 LPA/T. The plus facet is we could have extra native barley to work with in future years, one thing which I do know might be properly acquired by nearly everybody.
As issues stand we’ve got produced round 81,000 LPA at Glengyle with 2 fillings left to go for the 12 months – a smaller week of extremely peated Kilkerran to permit us for one week of our triple distilled expression. Glengyle has had an eventful 12 months as we celebrated it’s twentieth anniversary by way of a number of occasions, the spotlight of which was undoubtably a black-tie dinner loved with our suppliers and clients throughout the enterprise, adopted up the following night with an unforgettable live performance wherein legendary Scottish band ‘Travis’ performed to a raucous crowd of invited native and never so native visitors.
We proceed to progress and plan for the longer term in a number of methods, not least in growing and selling employees, and we have been delighted that lengthy serving Manufacturing Supervisor Robert McGarrie accepted his promotion to the place of Assistant Manufacturing Supervisor the place he’ll work intently supporting Manufacturing Supervisor Gavin McLachlan and the broader division.
Our future planning additionally included additional progress on our new bottling and dispatch facility, with foundations poured and progress made on making ready the bottom for the erection of the three separate areas that may make up the ability.
We glance again at 2024 fondly and stay up for 2025 the place we plan to enhance the positioning additional by upgrading the kiln burner at Springbank to 1 that may run on LPG and with a better diploma of modulation, in addition to refurbishing all of the stills at Springbank in September 2025, after a few years of devoted service have began to take their toll on them!
We hope you all have a fantastic festive interval and stay up for seeing you on website in 2025!
ONLINE SCOTCH WHISKY AWARDS
On Saturday, 2nd November, fifteen employees from numerous departments inside our firm met within the Washback Bar to tune in to this 12 months’s On-line Scotch Whisky Awards Ceremony.
Watch the reside stream right here. We’re delighted to have gained 1st place awards in following classes for 2024:
Greatest Worth Whisky – Kilkerran 12yo
Greatest Blended Malt – Campbeltown Loch
Findlay Ross, our Director of Manufacturing, spoke to Roy and Ralfy on the reside stream to just accept each awards and thank them on behalf of J. & A. Mitchell. On one other notice, as we’ve got beforehand gained the Greatest Distillery Award 3 times in a row from 2021 to 2023, we’re comfortable to obtain our first Trifecta Award! All three award certificates at the moment are proudly displayed on the wall of our Washback Bar on the Distillery.
MALTS FESTIVAL 2024
In Might, we hosted our Springbank and Kilkerran Open Days as a part of the 2024 Campbeltown Malts Competition and in addition to the poor climate, everybody had a good time!Relive the recollections right here with these two movies by our very personal Bar Supervisor, David Wooden, who documented your entire week on digicam!
Watch right here:
SPRINGBANK OPEN DAY 2024 – VIDEO
KILKERRAN OPEN DAY 2024 – VIDEO
The dates for our competition subsequent 12 months have already been set: Monday nineteenth to Saturday twenty fourth 2025.
Springbank Open Day – Thursday, twenty second Might 2025
Kilkerran Open Day – Friday, twenty third Might 2025
In case you want to be added to our mailing checklist for Springbank / Kilkerran / Cadenhead’s competition occasions, then please e-mail competition@springbank.scot and you can be notified when additional data is accessible.
We hope to see you there! 🥃
SOCIETY ‘ON TOUR’
Through the second half of the 12 months, we launched into our Springbank Society European Tasting Tour from August to October. These 16 particular person tastings throughout 11 totally different nations helped us carry the Society to our members and let attendees style new & upcoming releases earlier than anybody else on the earth!
Andrew’s journey throughout Europe took him to fulfill Society members in:
Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland & Sweden. It was nice to share these particular drams with our most loyal followers, the Springbank Society members! Because of everybody who attended. We plan take the Society on extra tasting excursions sooner or later!
20TH ANNIVERSARY OF KILKERRAN
To spherical out this 12 months’s celebrations for Kilkerran’s twentieth Anniversary, we determined to host quite a few particular tastings within the UK, Taiwan, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany to showcase all the pieces that Kilkerran has to supply!
As a thanks, the vast majority of these tastings have been hosted with retailers who’ve backed Kilkerran for the reason that very starting. Then on Friday, fifteenth November, we hosted a really particular tasting in Campbeltown’s City Corridor and welcomed 120 visitors from throughout to style Kilkerran whiskies from main milestones all through the years, adopted by a tasty buffet from Argyll Bakeries.
📸 Picture credit score to John McFadyen (Web site)
On the evening, attendees entered the corridor and got an arrival dram of our flagship Kilkerran 12yo after which six pre-poured whiskies have been ready for them at their tables. Of the tasting lineup, one of many whiskies was our new Kilkerran 20yo Single Cask aged in Recent Madeira for 10 years, then Refill Bourbon for 10 years.
Friends then seen a small piece of card, with the phrase “RESERVE”, the place they may write their title on the again and reserve a bottle earlier than it went on sale solely within the Distillery Store, the next morning.
📸 Picture credit score to John McFadyen (Web site)
We hope you’ve loved celebrating Kilkerran’s twentieth Anniversary as a lot as we’ve got! Now it’s time to start out planning for Springbank’s two hundredth Anniversary in 2028… 🎉
MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR
From everybody at J&A Mitchell, we want to thanks on your continued help this 12 months. Whether or not that be ingesting our whisky, travelling to our distillery, or just telling a good friend about us, we drastically admire it.
If you’re planning a go to over the festive interval, discover our end-of-year opening hours on our Fb and Instagram.
Lastly, all of us just lately headed as much as the Glengyle Distillery to pose for our annual Christmas Jumper Day images! Have a unbelievable time over the festive season and we hope to see you in 2025!
Sláinte Mhath 🥃
Springbank Distillery, 9 Bolgam Avenue, Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, PA28 6HZ
