Greetings to all Society members.   You may be wondering why on earth you are getting so many newsletters just now.    Well the sun is shining and we have news we wish to share with you,  as it  happens,  rather than giving you old news.

FROM FRANK

This week has been pretty hectic at Springbank Distillery as we are taking delivery of around 60 tonnes of barley which is being grown locally to Campbeltown.

The barley type is Westminster which is a recognised malting strain.   Grown by local farmer David Young at Langy farm on a south west facing field overlooking Machrihanish Bay,  the crop is very good.

The weather has been really kind over the past two weeks which has meant that the moisture content of the harvested barley is fairly low at arount 16 – 17%.

Stuart Robertson and his staff at the distillery have been kept busy receiving the barley and drying it in our kiln to a moisture level of 12% prior to puting it into storage where it will remain for at least the next three months.   After that time the barley should have come out of dormancy and be ready to malt.

During May and June 2010 this malted barley will be used to produce Springbank™, Longrow™ and Hazelburn™ spirit.

We are delighted with the news this week that Whisky Magazine has awared J & A Mitchell with “Distiller of the Year 2010”.    This is somewhat of a double celebration as Pete Currie was also voted “Young Brand Ambassador of the Year 2010” by Whisky Magazine.   Pete and Stuart Robertson were on hand in Glasgow last weekend to pick up the awards.

Springbank Distillery had to take some hard decisions a couple of years ago and decided to cut back in production mainly due tothe high cost of utilities and barley.   Some people in the distilling industry thought that this was a backward step and we did receive some criticism at that time.  We took the view that it was pointless distilling until prices stabalised.   That has now happened and we are continuing with production at both our distilleries.

Peter Currie has certainly made his mark during the time that he has spent with us and has become respected throughout the Whisky World as a Sales and Marketing Manager who has an in depth knowledge of Scotch Whisky.

Frank

HAIRY BIKERS

You may remember that the Hairy Bikers were featured in a recent newsletter, when they paid a visit to Springbank and filmed the distillery for part of their “foodie” programme.   The were presented with some Springbank which they promised they would use in one of their cooking “lessons”.   We have now been advised that the programme featuring Springbank will be aired on Friday 25th September on BBC 2,  “The Hairy Bikers” Food Tour of Britain”  which you will be able to watch again through i player

SOCIETY BOTTLE

Well, the jury is now out, the miniatures have been dispatched to the tasting panel, so when they have tasted, deliberated and decided, they will e mail their results to me and the cask which is deemed the “chosen one” will be gently set aside to await the printing of labels, then bottling.

That’s all our exciting news for this week.

If you have any comments, etc, as usual e mail me on society@springbankwhisky.com

Slainte

Janet
for Springbank Society

Please contact Janet via the above email address to join the Springbank Society.

http://www.springbankwhisky.com/