Springbank Society Quarterly – Scotch Whisky News
Society Quarterly – August 2016
Dear Society Members,
Make yourself comfortable, this is the longest newsletter I have ever sent you. In fact, this is a little more than the standard newsletters, although these will continue as normal. Here at Springbank HQ we have decided to alter the way in which we supply information to our Society Members. We have decided that I shall write you a quarterly email that you will receive approximately every 3 months. The rest of this email will give you an idea of the format these emails will take but first, please allow me to explain why we are doing this. There are a few reasons but the main 2 are as follows:
We are constantly thinking about how we communicate with the Society and how to improve the way we provide you with important information. We believe this is an improvement. We have also recently implemented a more structured announcement process throughout the Sales and Marketing department and these quarterly announcements are an significant part of that.
As part of the new announcement structure, as you may have noticed, we have changed the timing regarding when we tell you guys about bottle releases. A key element of this new system is to tell Society Members about upcoming releases that we plan to make available for purchase (at least in the UK) within the time between this quarterly and the next one in around 3 months. You will also continue to receive newsflashes shortly before each bottle is released which will include more details about each whisky than will be included in these quarterlies.
Also in this email, I have included some information on where members of our Sales team will be travelling to in the next 3 months and, if possible, where you can meet up with them.
And finally, if you make it all the way to the end, I have a few extra points that I believe are worth reading regarding the Society blog, Social media, the society discount and a recent mistake I made.
See you on the other side.
Upcoming Releases
The following bottles are scheduled for release between now and when the next quarterly is sent. I have included the month in which each of these bottles are currently scheduled to be released and as I mentioned in the introduction, each of these bottles will have their own announcement newsletter that you will receive shortly before they are released as usual. I do not plan for these quarterly newsletters to ever act as announcements in themselves.
August – Springbank 18yo (Extremely Limited) – £85.00
(You will be getting more information on this bottling very soon)
October – Springbank 25yo
Hazelburn 9yo Barolo Cask
Late October/November – Springbank 15yo Jamaican Rum Cask (Society bottle)
Obviously, due to this email being written several months in advance, these details are subject to change, although I hope they do not deviate in a significant way.
Meet our Sales team
Throughout the next 3 months our sales team will be travelling all over the world and, depending on what kind of event they are attending, there could be a chance for you to meet them, share a dram and talk about all things Springbank, Glengyle and Campbeltown. The list below, although extensive, is not complete and the amount of detail I am able to give varies due to factors out with our control. If you would like more information on an event feel free to contact me nearer the time when hopefully the team member will be able to provide me with more details.
September
2nd-3rd: Ranald and Fraser will be attending Copernicker Whisky Herbst in Berlin, Germany
3rd: Grant is at Liverpool Whisky Lounge.
4th: David will be in Bar Butler in Hong Kong.
13th-16th: Fraser is going on a Springbank tasting tour of Belgium, visiting the following places;
13th – Halle
14th – Angleur
15th – Zandhoven
16th – Mechelen
15th: Ranald is hosting a tasting for Good Spirits Company in Glasgow.
October
1st: Melanie is over in France for the Strasbourg Whisky Festival.
1st-3rd: Ranald, Grant and Fraser will be in London for the Whisky Exchange event.
6th: Fraser will be attending a whisky show in Warsaw, Poland
10th-15th: Fraser is going on another tasting tour of Belgium, this time representing Kilkerran.
15th: Grant, along with Mitch from our Campbeltown shop, will be at the Wee Dram shop in Bakewell, England.
22nd: Grant, with the assistant manager of our Campbeltown shop, Cameron, will be at the Manchester Whisky Lounge.
28th-29th: Fraser is attending the whisky show taking place in the Corinthia Hotel in Budapest, Hungary
30th: Melanie is hosting a tasting in the Willow Park store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
November
2nd: Melanie will remain in Calgary for Willow Park’s Whisky Festival.
5th: Grant is attending the Whisky Live event in Dublin, Ireland.
5th-6th: Ranald is off to Germany for the Villingen Whisky Fair.
5th-6th: Fraser and David will be attending Spirits in the Sky in Brussels, Belgium.
12th: Fraser will be heading back to his home city of Glasgow, Scotland for the Whisky Festival in Hampden park. He will be joined by Cadenhead’s Campbeltown shop manager Donald Brown.
12th: We have sent Grant down to the Birmingham Whisky Lounge show.
25th-26th: David is our ambassador to Sweden for the Orebro Beer and Whisky Festival.
26th: Ranald will be at Drambusters in Dumfires, Scotland
December
1st-4th: Fraser and Melanie are flying over to Switzerland for Whisky Schiff Zurich 2016
Further details about upcoming events and trips can be found on our website: www.springbankwhisky.com/events/
The Society Blog
I am continuing to write the society blog, which you can find here: www.springbankwhisky.com/society/
I would encourage you all to check the blog every now and then, sometimes it is the best way for me to get information out to you and it certainly is easier than a newsletter. Although I do try to keep it fairly busy, I remain reluctant to commit to a regular or fixed schedule regarding writing blogs, I feel this would not only limit me when I felt I had something worthwhile to write about outside of the agreed schedule but it would also result in me writing a blog post when I had nothing of note to say. Nevertheless, I don’t want you guys to miss anything, so make sure you check it every now and then.
If you have problems logging in to your account, or you don’t believe you have an account, please let me know as soon as you can.
Also, I am looking for suggestions for the blog. What would you guys like me to write about, what would you like to know about Springbank? Contact me with some ideas:
The Previous Newsletter
Some of you may have noticed the error that was in the newsletter I sent out regarding the most recent Springbank 12yo Cask Strength (it was concerning whether the Society discount was applicable). This cast into light some misunderstandings that I and others had when it came to how the discount was being implemented in our other shops, particularly the shops outside of the UK. To be clear, the Society discount is applicable in our Campbeltown shop for core range products from Springbank Distillers. It is possible you could get the discount for these products in other Cadenhead shops but, due to each shop out with Campbeltown being run as a franchise, this is entirely at their discretion.
Social Media
In recent times, we here at Springbank Towers have taken a more active role on social media and aim to continue this development in the future (especially when our notoriously poor internet service is finally improved) . Following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is a great and easy way to keep up to date with the happenings at #Springbank.
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/officialspringbankwhisky/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/Springbank1828 (@springbank1828)
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/springbankwhisky1828/
The End is Nigh
This has been an essay hasn’t it. Well, I hope it has been more interesting than the essays I used to write back in my university days. However, now you know what these quarterlies are going to be like, what format they have. The next one will be in approximately 3 months (you guys know how much I hate definitive schedules) and I am sure it will provide some interesting bedtime reading for you all again 😉
Remember, I am looking for suggestions for the blog and you will still be receiving the regular newsletters as before so you won’t have to wait too long for the next one.
Slainte
Nathan
For the Springbank Society
To join the Springbank Society please contact Nathan at
