SPRINGBANK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
Greetings to all Society Members from an almost sunny Campbeltown. I have finally got time to sit down and compose myself and let you know what has been happening here at Springbank Distillery. We have had a very busy couple of months and it doesn’t look as if it’s about to stop any time soon!
Open Day
This year’s open day was another great success, starting off at 11.00 am with the official opening from Frank McHardy, our Director of Production. This year there were Springbank Masterclasses with Frank and Gavin, the Distillery Manager – this year Gavin “flew solo” with his Masterclasses. Peter Currie our Sales Manager and Ranald Watson, Sales Executive held Masterclasses at Glengyle Distillery while Jenny Karlsson our other Sales Executive was kept extremely busy all day hosting tastings in one of the warehouses.
There were the usual free distillery tours and plenty of food throughout the day from Auntie Mo’s kitchen, Ifferdale Lamb with their BBQ and MacMillan smokehouse with a variety of fish and shellfish, this year we also had Fyne Ales in attendance with loads of their beer.
We also had local craft people there selling their products and music throughout the day from Campbeltown Brass, Frank Rochdale with his fiddle, and Johnny Hill to round off the evening singing and playing guitar.
This year we had the shop housed in a marquee, with Lisa in full charge, to give us more room for folks to go in and purchase bottles from the two single casks, one a Springbank and the other a Hazelburn. Grant Macpherson also hosted a very busy and noisy Cadenhead Tasting in the Tasting room – Donald, I think, was on crowd control!!
We had intended closing for a couple of hours to give us time to set up the BBQ for the evening but things just didn’t happen that way – some people just would not go away, so we ended up staying open throughout, getting ready round about the folks who were there then carrying on with the BBQ – which was sold out far too quickly – and a wee “spooks” tour of one of the warehouses. This was just a wee bit of fun, we expected a few people to participate and for it to last just 10 minutes. We ended up having to have three “spooks” tours, conducted very ably by Lea Gibson, our tour guide, amidst lots of squeels and laughter. Look out everyone for next year!!!
The staff throughout the distillery and offices joined in everything that was happening on the day, worked very hard indeed to make sure that everything went as smoothly as possible, and on top of all that, cleared up the debris the next day. Without them it just would not be possible to hold such a day.
We have started to speak about next year already and what we can do to make it a bit different from this year’s. Roll on!!!
Open Golf Competition
The golf competiton – the first we hope of many – was held the day after the open day at Machrihanish Dunes Golf course. We did not have too many entrants this year, but hopefully this will become more popular as the years go by. The format was a Texas Scramble and the winning team were Flemming Bagger and Henrick Muller – both Society members with Peter Currie and Ian McGougan making up the team, so very well done to them. Their names will be the first to be on the plaque which will hang in the Tasting room. Machrihanish Dunes provided breakfast of rolls and coffee at the start followed by a splendid buffet at the end of the competition. Each entrant received a “goody bag” from Machrihanish Dunes which included a miniature of Springbank spcially labelled for the occasion.
Whisky School
The whisky school this year has been a great success, the last week was week commencing 4th July. All eight weeks have been full with students from all over the world attending. I hear that during one of the weeks that some of the students had a “wheelbarrow race” in the malt barns and that the malt floor had never been put down as quickly in the history of the distillery – but that is just a story. All of the students have been very friendly and the distillery staff have been eager to help them during their stay with us. Hopefully they have all taken away some good memories of Springbank.
Dates have not been set as yet for next year’s school, but at this stage it looks as if we will start in May 2012 for eight weeks. Further details will be announced when we have fixed dates.
Hip Flasks
We now have Springbank hip flasks in stock – it was not really practical to have Society hip flasks as there was not really enough interest and we would have had to purchase quite a sizeable number. The cost in the shop is £22.50 but for Society members the price is £20.25. They are available from the online shop, or if you drop me an e mail I can order it for you.
The hip flask has a hinged lid so that you do not lose it when you are having a wee dram.
As you will see it is really quite smart.
We also have some Springbank hand made chocolates in the shop – again they are in the online shop if you would like to have a wee look. They were made by the Oban Chocolate Company, and very nice they are too. Very hard to resist once you have tasted one.
Possible Cask Offer
We are always looking for new ideas for Society Members, things that are exclusive to you as members. I have been promised a few casks of whisky, the type has not been decided as yet, to be offered to Society Members, not for them to own of course, but to have a share in.
Dependent on the number of members who would be interested in such a scheme we would then decide whether or not we would pursue this. The proposal is that a number of members would share the contents of a cask and would receive a bottle from the cask for each of four years then in year five the remainder of the cask would be bottled and shared between those members.
We had looked at letting the cask mature over a longer period with members getting a sample bottle every second year, but the losses would be too great and at the end of a ten year period the “angels” might have had more than their fair share.
Each cask would have a set number of “sharing” members and that cask would be exclusive to your group. You would be given details of the cask – type of whisky and finish, age and cask number. Each bottle sent our to you would have a private label with your name on it. (You would not be able to design your own label).
The cost would have to reflect excise duty, VAT and dispatch charges and would be a one of payment. The number of casks would depend on the interest Society Members show in such a system, but of course would not be limitless.
Before we go any further with this and start getting into the legal details and the cost of such a scheme I would need to know how many members would like to participate. So, if you think this is a good idea and would like to get on board, drop me an e mail, or a wee note with your comments and I’ll take it from there. It may well be that we would only be able to do this for UK members or members who would collect their bottles, rather than trying to send them to other countries in the EU, given the difficulties we face when we dispatch bottles outwith the UK.
Society Bottle
The Local Barley has sold very well, there are a few people who have ordered it and have still to send me some paperwork before I can send it out, I will be in touch with them individually so that I can finalise whether or not I still have a few bottles for sale.
The Local Barley has started it’s journey this week for the USA and the members have been advised – I will e mail all members in the USA letting
them know who to contact to have their bottle dispatched from the various outlets.
I will now start looking for another cask for Society Members – it does take a while from start to finish as we always have to wait for labels to be printed and for a suitable slot in the bottling programme. I will try to persuade Frank and Gavin to get into the back of the warehouse and dig something interesting out for you.
Cadenhead Whisky Shop
Over the past couple of months our sandwich shop has moved from Eaglesome’s in the shop next door and has been renamed Aunti Mo’s Kitchen and the Eaglesome’s sandwich shop has been completely revamped to become Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop Campbeltown. The transformation is complete and the big unveiling was on Saturday 2nd July. The shop opened at 11.00 am and from 2.30 pm until 7.30 pm an assortment of cocktails and nibbles were served to visitors to the shop.
The shop was busy from opening time right up until we finally closed just after 7.30 pm, a very successful day with everyone enjoying the nibbles, Donald’s fabulous cocktails and tastings from the Tasting room casks.
So, as you can see, a busy time here in Campbeltown, with tours also picking up the pace as we get into holiday mode.
I hope the sun is shining on you where ever you are and I look forward to hearing from you, even if it’s just to say hello.
Slainte
Janet
For the Springbank Society
Contact Janet via society@springbankwhisky.com for details on how to join the Springbank Society
J & A Mitchell and Co Ltd, The Tasting Room, 9 Bolgam Street, Campbeltown, Argyll, PA28 6HZ
Tel : + 44(0) 1586 552009 Fax : + 44(0) 1586 553232
Visit Springbank Distillery at http://www.springbankwhisky.com
