Springbank

Based in Campbeltown, once known as ‘whisky capital of the world’, Springbank whisky has been going strong on its original site and under the management of generations one family – The Mitchells - since 1828.

The distillery is currently run by Hedley G. Wright, Mitchell’s great, great grandson, marking the fifth generation of the Mitchell family to own and manage Springbank.

As the only remaining Scottish distillery to carry out 100% of the production process on site, with human involvement at every stage, the Springbank distillery is a busy place.

Springbank is the only distillery in Scotland to malt 100% of their barley using traditional floor malting methods. This not only helps to maintain an element of historical charm to the distillery, but also helps to guarantee that the whisky is consistently of the highest quality. It is also the only distillery in Scotland to produce three different malts on one site.

The first written references to Campbeltown whisky date all the way back to 1591. It wasn’t until the early 1600’s, however that distilling activity – albeit illegal - really became prevalent in the area. This was the era in which the first members of the Mitchell family also settled in the area. With some members of the family already established whisky makers, it’s likely that they became involved in the bootleg whisky trade.

With distilling finally made legal, Archibald Mitchell decided to build Springbank Distillery on a previously illegal site in 1828. Its establishment made it the 14th licensed distillery in Campbeltown at this time.

By 1891, the demand for Campbeltown whisky had spread like wildfire, making Campbeltown with a then population of a mere 1,969, the richest town in Britain per capita.

By the 1920’s, however, further growth had taken its toll. With consumer demand greater than the distilleries’ ability to produce, a number of Campbeltown’s finest began to cut corners. The drop in quality was noticed and, as a result, many of the town’s distilleries were forced to close. By 1934. Only Springbank and Glen Scotia remained in the Campbeltown area.

Throughout the challenges of the remainder of the 20th century -the World Wars and economic downturn of the 80’s, to name just two - Springbank has always remained steadfast in its production of the highest quality of whisky. By the 1990’s Springbank’s reputation for producing world-class whisky had spread globally. Today, the distillery runs as strong as ever with a view to producing the best quality whisky for many more decades to come.