SPRINGBANK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Greetings Society Members, at last I have had time to sit down and compose the next newsletter. Things have been a bit hectic here, not helped by the fact that I am going on holiday for two weeks and am getting a bit excited!!!

Tours – this year saw a first for Springbank/Glengyle distilleries with 85, mostly Danish, visitors from a ship taking part in a Premier Tour. They were split into 3 groups with each group having a different starting point for their walking tour, incorporating a tour of both Springbank and Glengyle distilleries and a tasting by Frank and Gavin in one of the warehouses. Following their tour the group enjoyed a buffet lunch in the malt barn, prepared by a very nervous Donald, although he need not have worried as everyone thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and the unique experience. He assured us afterwards that he is quite prepared to repeat this if asked.

OPEN DAY
Another successful day with a change of format for a few things this year. Frank kick started the day by welcoming everyone to the Open Day and hoped all our visitors would spend a pleasant day with us. Jenny started off the events with a Springbank tasting and food pairing in the Tasting room, using local produce as her accompaniments. This was followed by Ranaldʼs masterclass, who held his, again seated class, at Glengyle Distillery in the filling store. Everyone got to taste whiskies from the first six casks which were filled at the distillery when it opened in 2004 – bourbon, Demerara rum, port, fino sherry, oloroso sherry and madeira wine. They were also given a control sample of each of those drinks and had to try and work out which whisky had come from which cask type. Only five people managed to get them all correct and Ranald very generously gave them a sample bottle from one of the casks as a prize! Next in line was the Springbank Masterclass with Frank and Gavin in the malt barn. This year they had set up a seated area for their Masterclass, with Gavin taking samples directly from casks, this was indeed a very popular class with almost full capacity! While the Masterclasses were in progress we had Campbeltown Brass Band sitting in the sweltering heat of the car park playing their hearts out. They are always very willing to come along and cheer us up with their rousing music.
Grantʼs Masterclass was the last one of the day, at full capacity, again seated in the malt barn. Grant had prepared a power point presentation, and I hope they were all paying attention as he had spent some time in the preparation!! He had also asked “Pop” to come along and regauge a cask during the Masterclass which I am sure everyone enjoyed seeing. I hear he also had a wee surprise cask for everyone to taste which I am sure went down very well. All in all a great day for the “teachers” of the masterclasses and I am sure a fabulous day for the pupils.

Also on offer were free distillery tours which again were very popular – the guides of the day were Jim and Lea who were kept very busy – I donʼt even know if they had time for a lunch break. Our popular local violinist Frank Rochford made an appearance in the afternoon to entertain us with some lively music, as did one of our Society Members, Peter Ferguson with the bagpipes.

The marquee was very busy, keeping Lisa and Julie on their toes all day selling from the two single casks, the poor girls had to keep running in and out as our credit card machine was playing up, but they must have been enjoying themselves as they just refused to take a break. They were assisted by Ian and Robert who were the men of the moment, filling from the all important single casks, labeling and capsuling the bottles to keep the girls stocked up.

On Masterclass ticket sales were the girls from the J & A Mitchell office, Fiona, Jenna and Michelle who took it in turns to man the ticket sales, while still manning the office.

This year we had fourteen local craft stalls, ranging from hand made cards, hand made candles, wood turning, jewellery, hand made chutney, bath time cafe soaps, wood carving, so a wide variety of stalls for everyone to browse. We also had food from Ifferdale Lamb, Auntie Mo, MacMillan Smokehouse and Mull of Kintyre cheese. In the afternoon Donald was offering afternoon tea and coffee and cream cakes in the Tasting room for those who needed a wee walk and a quiet sit down – again a popular venue.

At the distillery we also had tastings in the warehouse, hosted by Melanie, a new member of the sales team. She had a very busy day and was indeed “thrown into the deep end” but coped remarkably well.

Linda and Catherine were also very busy handing out free tastings of our CV Range, the new Kilkerran WIP and of course the Open Day single cask bottles. They had a steady flow of visitors all day giving their valued opinions on our new products.

Both John and Charlie were on hand all day to do any running about that was needed, fetching and carrying tables and chairs and any other tasks set for them. Willing helpers indeed. In the evening there was a BBQ ruled over by Donald who shouted at anyone and everyone, bossing us all about as usual. In the marquee we had a spirit bar set up and of
course Fyne Ales, who had been there all day, gladly stayed on until the very end.

Music was supplied by the Juvenile Pipe Band, a very popular choice, followed by music from local artistes Dave Bissett and Davie Robertson who played and sang till the end. A spooks tour was also on the cards this year, with Lea, Catrona, Ian, Derek and Amanda throwing themselves into scaring the life out of us (assisted by Kenneth and Rhys). We also had a group of young local dancers “Foot Notes”, performing Thriller as you emerged from the dark warehouse into the sunshine. A very popular tour this year, demand being so high they had to repeat it six times!!

A big thank you is due to every single member of staff who made the Open Day run smoothly. They are all very willing to help wherever they can and just make things so easy, a great “family” to work with. We could not have asked for a better day for the Open Day this year, the sun shone from morning till night and we all went home, eventually, exhausted but  ery happy that it had been such a fun day.

Roll on next year!!!!!!!

Open Day Bottles
We do have some Open Day Bottles for sale in the shop. There are a very few of the Longrow and a few cases of the Springbank. The price is £50 per bottle, so if you would like to buy any of these single cask bottles, please contact the shop direct as I wonʼt be here to answer your emails. The shop number is 01586 551710 ext 1.

Golf Competition
Not to be outdone by the Open Day, Friday the 25th saw our second Golf Open, this year at Machrihanish, with the sun shining again from early morning. The entry for this year had increased, a good sign, and hopefully will increase in popularity as the years go on.

The winning team were Olof Lundin, A Bengtson, B Edshage and L Regner, Second were Don Greaves, F Greaves, A Reed and M Robertson and Third Finlay Wylie, John Biggins, Angus Brown and Ross Robertson. A “special” prize was given to the team Ailsa De Haas, J McIntyre and J McGeachy. The Longest Drive was won by Nathan Long and Nearest the Pin by Ken Greig. I am pleased to say that last yearʼs winners did come to defend their title but sad to say they did not pick up any prizes this year.

The golf was followed by lunch in the Machrihanish Club House which I am assured they all enjoyed.

Society Bottle
The next Society Bottle is a Springbank 14 year old, which was matured for 7 years in a Port cask and 7 years in a Refill Bourbon cask. It will be bottled at about 55% ABV and will yield 600 bottles. I donʼt have a price for this as yet, and it will be bottled while I am on holiday, ready for action as soon as I get back at the beginning of July. We intend taking orders as usual, and for those members in Europe we would send your bottles to the Cadenhead shops and you would contact the appropriate shop to arrange payment and shipping from them. Initially I would take the order and let the shops have a note of your name and membership number (this will give me an idea of how much I have to allocate to each shop). The price for the bottles should be much the same as you would pay in the UK. If you would rather come and pick your bottle up from Campbeltown we are of course happy to keep it here until you visit. (We like visitors).

I would ask that you donʼt email me with orders until I send out the next newsletter as your emails wonʼt be answered and I wonʼt get a fright when I return from holiday to see my in box full of hundreds of emails. Thank you in advance for that.

Longrow Red
We will have a new Longrow this year round about August/September. It will be called Longrow Red and is an 11 year old, matured for 7 years in Refill Bourbon casks and 4 years in Cabernet Sauvignon casks from the Long Row Winery in Australia. It will be bottled at 52.1%ABV and will retail at approximately £50 – to be confirmed. There will be 9000 bottles.

Further news on this nearer the time.

Well, thatʼs it for now, I will be back in two weeks, raring to go.

Slainte
Janet

Contact Janet at society@springbankwhisky.com to join the Springbank Society