Greetings to all Society members from not so sunny Campbeltown.   We are back to our usual Scottish weather, with all four seasons in one day.   Right now it’s winter, with grey skies and occasional heavy showers of rain.   Perfect weather for sitting by the fire.

Tour Guide
You may remember that we advertised for a tour guide to help us out for 3 months over the summer.   The “lucky” person was Bernhard Luenberger, who is a Society Member.   His time with us has just finished and he is on his way home.   I asked Bernhard to give us a little report on his time with us at Springbank.   He managed to learn a little of the local dialect, as you will see, and he made a lot of friends both in Springbank and the local community.

Confessions of a Tour Guide

“I will question you about this”, Frank McHardy said with a grin, handing me
over the documentation about Springbank distillery the morning after the
Glengyle open day during my second visit to Campbeltown. The first time
already being a few years back, I wanted to see my place of work for the 3
summer months and to attend the Glengyle open day on the 21.05.09. Indeed it was a great event with lots of music, guided tours of both distilleries by the respective managers and having an interesting Kilkerran tasting with Frank in the Glengyle Filling Store. I’m already looking forward to the Springbank open day next year!

Coming back from the Islay Festival of Malt and Music on the 1st of June I
was shown the cosy apartment right above the Whisky shop and the next day I was already in the shop wearing a Springbank polo shirt and trying to serve customers, filling shop shelves and operating the till under the guidance of 2 very patient teachers: Leslie and Donald. Not only did they show me how the Cadenhead’s shop is working but they also introduced me to the idiomatic specialities of the Campbeltonian lingo: “What’s happening in Campbeltown?” translates into “Hoots heppenin doon in the wee toon?” and “Out and about” into “Oot and aboot”. It took me roughly 1 month to get used to it and especially in noisy pubs I still need to ask twice or more times to understand everything.

During the first week in Campbeltown I attended tours by our main tour guide Jim and by Peter Currie. Further I was introduced to the friendly staff at  Springbank distillery. Everybody was enormously helpful and answered all my questions regarding Whisky and administrative stuff. One of the many
highlights for me was that Gordon, Hector, John and Pop from the production team allowed me to follow them a few times and to look over their shoulders while they performed their varied tasks.

On the Saturday of my first week what I had awaited eagerly finally
happened: I held my first tour through the distillery. I was quite nervous
and I had my notes in the backpack just in case I’d forgotten an important
detail. Apart from being a bit long, the tour worked out fine and over the
following weeks I managed to hold my tours a little more relaxed and
customised according to the interests of the guests. I held most tours in
English but every once in a while there were some French or German speaking guests who were very glad to have a tour in their own language, helping them to understand all the details and being able to ask questions more precisely. The technical terms were quite a challenge for me, so a lot of hand work and explaining was required.

There were roughly 5 different kinds of guests on tours and in the shop:
locals (Springbank bottles with customised labels are very popular wedding
and birthday presents), campers (there are quite a few campsites along the
beautiful sandy beaches of Kintyre), sailors and windsurfers (enjoying the
strong wind and the beauty of the lochs and Islands along the Scottish west
coast), golfers (the two courses at Machrihanish are well known and very
popular, even occasionally attracting Prince Andrew) and last but not least
the Springbank Whisky fanatics from all over the world. It’s amazing to see
what a strong support Springbank gets from its aficionados from literally
all around the globe: During the 3 summer months we had guests from all over Europe, the Americas, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. For many, the long journey down to Campbeltown was like a pilgrimage. And this is exactly what made my job as tour guide at Springbank so rewarding: the majority of guests were very much into Springbank and Whisky in general, asked me tricky questions to investigate and told me details I hadn’t known before. Every single tour was a special experience for me and hopefully also for the guests. Sometimes I met the guests after work in a pub or at the Ardshield hotel whisky bar (Flora upgraded the bar to over 400 different bottles of Single Malt in the last year) and we continued exchanging the latest news of the Whisky world over a dram or a pint.

Working only 5 days a week from 9 to 5 left me with a lot of spare time to
explore the beautiful nature of Kintyre and beyond: I did a few sections of the long distance hiking path “The Kintyre Way” (www.kintyreway.com) spanning the whole of Kintyre, went to beautiful hills and lochs around Campbeltown and climbed its landmark mountain Beinn Ghuilean by foot and on a mountain bike with Pete. Other highlights in the area are the Southend Highland Games, the great Mull of Kintyre Music Festival and last but not least the very lively pubs of Campbeltown featuring live music and a cheerful crowd.

To sum up I had a great time being part of the Springbank family for these 3
months and I would strongly recommend applying early for this job next year! I would like to say thank you to Frank and Peter for making this possible, to Grant and Ranald for your guidance and support, to Leslie and Donald for your instructions and patience, to Janet for your help and taps on the shoulder and to everybody at Springbank for making my stay such a memorable experience!

You’ll never guess – my last day and Frank tracked me down!!!!!

Test taken – results to be published.

Cheers

Bernhard
TEST RESULTS ARE IN – BERNHARD HAD A 92% PASS!!!!!

SOCIETY BOTTLE

We have started to talk about the next Society Bottle, and I have asked Frank to get together with Stuart and for them to dust down the casks at the back of the warehouse and come up with something a bit different for you.   We will wait with baited breath to see what they suggest.   Hopefully this will not take too long.

The last Society bottle, a Longrow 12 year old is going very well, with lots of members coming back for another.  If you missed out we still have a little left, so let me know if you would like some.   The cost is £45 plus postage and packing.   Feedback from members has been very positive, as always.

FACEBOOK

I’ve been on and registered, I see that Springbank has a lot of fans, if you’ve not been on yet, you should have a wee look.

SPRINGBANK OPEN DAY
Next year Springbank will be the host for our open day on Thursday 20th May, so get your holidays booked early!!!!! We will have two casks for bottling on the day.   There will also be at least one Masterclass, lots of products to be sampled, tours of the distillery, music and food, and who knows what else we will come up with.   I did suggest a bouncy castle for the big kids, but that was a no…………….maybe a dunk tank????

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop will also host rather special tastings in the tasting room.    All will be revealed at a later date.
We will keep you up to date with the final plans, as they emerge.

OUT & ABOUT WITH PETER & RANALD
Whisky Live Glasgow: Saturday 12th September in The Thistle Hotel, Cambridge Street, Glasgow.   Peter will be at Whisky Live, so if you are in the area, why not pop along and see him on the Springbank stand.   He might have samples from the casks of Hazelburn we are considering for the next Society bottle, so be sure to take your Society Membership card with you if  you would like a wee taste.

The Technical Bit – by Stuart Robertson – Milling
Anyone who has had the experience of being here at the distillery when we are milling will have seen a sight only familiar to persons of a certain age. It is very unusual to see belt driven machinery anywhere these days but at Springbank we take great pride in the fact things haven’t changed much here in the last half century. A large single electric motor drives the main shaft which in turn drives a number of conveyors, elevators, a dust extractor, a drum screen and the mill. It is very rewarding to see the faces of people who see the mill in operation as they all, without exception, take delight in seeing belt driven machinery and will tell you it is an amazing experience. The noise, the different sounds, the smells and the sight of the mill in operation all add to the uniqueness of a visit to Springbank.

Why do we mill the malted barley? This is a question I am often asked and the simple answer is to allow the water to penetrate into the malted barley and convert the starches and protein into soluble products. The milling process allows us to prepare a grist of a consistency that allows fast wort run off and good extraction efficiency.

It is important to get the milling process right as it plays a major part in how efficiently the distillery produces alcohol. Malt is transferred from the selected malt bin through a conveyor, into an elevator, down a chute which has a large magnet for catching bits of metal and into a drum screen which removes any foreign objects and small corns. The cleaned malt passes down into the weighing machine and then into the malt mill, each coup of the weigher is 40 Kg. The mill is set to grind the malt into grist which contains 20% husk, 70% grits and 10% flour, this is the ideal consistency for our mash tun to allow clear wort drainage and good extraction. The grist as it is now known is transferred from the mill along a conveyor into an elevator, across a conveyor and finally into the grist bin where it will stay until needed.

The consistency of the grist is constantly monitored throughout the grind to ensure the mill is doing its job effectively. The operator takes a sample of approximately 120 grammes from the bottom of the mill and places it into a sieve box. The box has sieve screens with holes of different diameters the top sieve being larger than the bottom sieve. The lid is secured and the sieve box is shaken a number of times before the different fractions are weighed. Each fraction is weighed independently and a note of the weight taken. The husk, grits and flour weights are combined to give a total weight. Each fraction is then worked out as a percentage of the total weight.

As usual, anyone who would like a deeper understanding of the milling process please feel free to drop us an e-mail.

All the best

Stuart Robertson
Distillery Manager

SPRINGBANK/GLENGYLE TOURS & TASTING

Grant MacPherson has moved from Cadenhead sales to take over as Manager of Cadenhead’s Whisky shop in Campbeltown.   He has been busy this last few weeks getting the tasting room set out in his own very tidy, organised fashion.   This week he has taken delivery of a cask of Hazelburn for the tasting room, to add to the Kilkerran, Springbank and Longrow already there,  available for visitors who have a tour of the distillery then a tasting in the tasting room, you will be able to buy a bottle of Hazelburn straight from the cask.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

As usual if there is anything you would like to share with us, please get in touch.   We are always happy to hear from you.

Slainte

Janet
for Springbank Society

To join the Springbank Society please contact Janet at society@springbankwhisky.com

FOUR GlenDronach casks are scheduled to be specially bottled for the Danish market and will go on sale in Denmark in October.
 
Regional Sales Director Alistair Walker explained: “A few weeks ago, we had a party of Danish retailers at GlenDronach on a cask-buying mission led by our Danish importer Lars Gregersen of LAGO-import.
 
“They went through circa twenty-five single cask samples before settling on the following four casks:
 
1989 cask 1901 / 19 years old / 52.4%vol / Oloroso Sherry Butt
1992 cask 1138 / 16 years old / 46% / Oloroso Sherry Butt
1996 cask 231 / 13 years old / 46% / Oloroso Sherry Butt
1996 cask 240 / 13 years old / 4 6% / Oloroso Sherry Butt
 
“This takes the number of exclusive single cask GlenDronachs bottled for Denmark in 2009 to five, following on from 1992 cask 1135 (16 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / 57.3%vol) that was bottled exclusively for LAGO in July and shipped to Denmark a few weeks ago.”
 
Lars Gregersen commented: “What a fantastic weekend we had at GlenDronach distillery selecting our casks. It was truly a labour of love! Great company, great weather, great hospitality – and superb whisky!
 
“In the coming months, we’ll be having a lot of GlenDronach tastings to familiarise Danish palates with this magnificent malt…plus two very exclusive tastings in November with the distillery’s Alan McConnochie.”
 
Alistair went on: ”As well as the above, GlenDronach will also be supplying LAGO with its 2009 “Christmas Malt” – a limited edition GlenDronach Sauternes Finish, aged 13 years and bottled at 46%. Just 2400 bottles will be made available and will be released in Denmark exclusively during October 2009. This is a particularly unique bottling as it deviates from the traditional heavily sherried style typical of GlenDronach.”
 
The tasting notes for the Sauternes Finish are:
 
Appearance: Summer gold.
Nose: Sweet and aromatic. Clotted cream, yoghurt and honeydew melon.
Palate: Vanilla essence and rich honey. Ripe peaches and a lovely citrus twist.
Finish: Mellow and smooth yet with freshness and vitality.
 
The Danish market is very important to GlenDronach, as Alistair Walker explained: “Denmark has always been a decent market for malt whisky, although trading conditions have been challenging over the last eighteen months due to the economic climate.
 
“Given that, the successful introduction of GlenDronach since we launched in Denmark late 2008 is all the more remarkable, and can be attributed to two factors – the amount of time and energy our importer LAGO invests in the brand and the Danes’ ability to recognise a good dram when they taste one!”
 
NOTES FOR EDITORS
 
PIC: The Danes get down to the serious task of selecting the casks. Also attached are two of the labels which will be used – one for the 1992 and one for the Sauternes Finish.
 
ends                             10 September 2009
 
INFORMATION – Alistair Walker, 01324 682220 http://www.glendronachdistillery.com/

http://www.binnys.com/

Not a lot of information as to the cask type other than ‘matured in oak casks’ which is redundant after all since it’s the law. The nose fruity, green and sweet at first blush. After a very short while the green notes (fresh cut hay, cut grass etcetera) start to fade and are replaced with aromas more of the floral and vanilla honey variety. However the green notes never entirely leave the picture. The taste is at first quite vibrant and mildly young with white wine, pears and flavours often associated with solvents followed by some really good malt and then a mild copper and possibly some smoke but very faint. The finish is very malty and much like white wine followed by a mild soapiness however the malt is quite pronounced. A mild unbalanced bitterness at the very end. The malt makes a valiant return however it’s too late; impressions have been formed.

Some unhappiness in this sample although there are some great moments of malt delivery and a good example of what is suspected to be not the most interactive cask.

C$68

Score 76 points

http://www.vintagemaltwhisky.com/product-cooperchoice.html

2009 Single Malt Release
 2009 will be a landmark year in Kilchoman’s history as our spirit comes of age and the very first single malt is released
 A limited run of 3 year old will be bottled for general release from 9th September 2009
 The Inaugural release will be unveiled at a Launch Party to be held at the distillery on Wednesday 9th September.
 Bottles will have already been shipped to 14 key markets worldwide and will be available from the 10th September.

The 14 markets and distributors are:
• UK Kilchoman Distillery
o 
And available at the following retailers initially:
o Loch Fyne Whiskies, Inverary
o Royal Mile Whiskies, Edinburgh and London
o The Whisky Exchange, London
o The Whisky Shop, Dufftown
o Whiskies of Scotland, Huntly
o Jeroboams/Milroys of Soho, London
o The Vintage House, London
o The Wee Dram, Bakewell
• France La Maison du Whisky
• Japan Whisk-e
• Germany Alba Import
• Sweden Clydesdale
• Finland Vinoble Oy
• Holland Whisky Import Nederland
• Belgium Nectar
• Denmark FC Whisky
• Canada
o Gold Medal Marketing, Alberta
o The Case For Wine, Ontario
• Switzerland World of Whisky
• Austria Pot Still
• New Zealand Whisky Galore
• Spain Central Hisumer

Anthony Wills,
Kilchoman Distillery
http://www.kilchomandistillery.com/

Those of you who are on Twttter know of  #followfriday however now it’s the chance for the world of whisky to have their own day to shine with #whiskywednesday where the goal is a shared dram to celebrate whisky.

As the_nose says “It’s a simple enough concept – at some point every Wednesday why not tell the world what you’re going to have as a dram?”

http://twitter.com/

The very best oak casks are critical to the maturation of The Balvenie. Our spirit spends so long in them, borrowing so much character, that we entrust their upkeep only to our own coopers.

This month’s Inside Story goes into fascinating detail on the cooper’s craft ~ http://tinyurl.com/n82sbv ~ whilst David Mair writes his Letter from Dufftown in the deafening noise of The Balvenie cooperage.

You may have noticed that The Balvenie site has been down for critical maintenance recently. The work has taken a bit longer than we all thought, and we apologise for the inconvenience… however, we are now back online.

Visit the Balvenie at http://www.thebalvenie.com/

Roll Out the Barrels!
WhiskyFest San Francisco
Arrives October 16, 2009

Please join us at Malt Advocate’s 3rd annual San Francisco event, where we will have a table showcasing our very own D&M whisky bottlings. Purchase your tickets today and be sure to  stop by and say hello!

America’s largest whisky celebration returns to San Francisco for the 3rd year with over 200 of the rarest – and most expensive – whiskies from around the globe available for tasting. Put on by Malt Advocate, the premiere magazine for the whisky enthusiast, WhiskyFest will again feature an educational focus that will let distillers not only explain how whisky is made, but also how to identify, sniff, swirl, and enjoy one of the most revered spirits in the world.

Event Details
The 3rd Annual WhiskyFest San Francisco will take place at the
San Francisco Marriott on Friday, October 16, 2009 from 6:30pm – 9:30pm.

Tickets
Regular Admission: $95 (includes Scottish crystal tasting glass, 1-year subscription to Malt Advocate magazine, event program with tasting notes section, all seminars, gourmet buffet and beverages throughout the evening) until September 15th; $105 after

VIP Admission: $150 (includes all of the above plus one hour early admission with limited ticketing, special VIP hour only whiskies, and canvas tote bag).

For more information on ticket sales or event information, visit:
http://maltadvocate.com/docs/whiskyfest/san_francisco/default.aspx

At D&M we keep between two and three hundred different Single Malts on our shelves all the time. Why do we do that? Because each of these whiskies is an individual, and there are times that call for a seriously smoky malt, an Ardbeg, say. Then, there are those bright and pretty mornings when only a delicately ladylike Rosebank will fit the bill.

If you have a hankering for Single Malts (and the heart of a Scotsman) you might check out one of our two Single Malt clubs:

The D&M Single Malt Aficionado’s Society http://tinyurl.com/kt6tns

and the

D&M Single Malt Connoisseur’s Club. http://tinyurl.com/lurshc

D&M http://www.dandm.com/

September Outturn: 31 outstanding Society single casks
For September’s Outturn we’ve coralled the last of the Society Classic bottlings, and pitted them in a final showdown with our Anniversary bottles.  It’s the last time they’ll be seen in these parts before they’re run out of town – or they simply run out.

Like Gold Dust: save £10 on our Classics
The rush is NOW on to snare the last of our Classic bottles – buy a pair and save £10.  Collectors’ items of the future or just a fine tipple today, remember to get yours.

September Society Recommendations, why not try:

Young Trio: 123.3, 3.148 and 44.40
Buy together for £104 and save £13

A Sweet Pair: 123.3 and 7.50
Buy together for £95 and save £12

Best Buys: 37.41 and 7.50
Buy together for £100 and save £13

Learn how to join the Scotch Malt Whisky Society at http://www.smws.com/

Hello!

This month’s live online tasting is entitled Spirited September and will take place on the weekend of the 26th and 27th. We will be trying out everything that is too young to be legally called whisky. Full details
here:

http://www.whiskywhiskywhisky.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2157

I hope you will join us with a dram or two to hand.
—
Slàinte!
Mark (butephoto)

http://www.whiskywhiskywhisky.com/forum