If you remember, at the time we suspended production from our distilleries, we received many comments regarding our decision and as well as being known as
“the canary in the coal mine“ we were thought, by some naive newcomers to the distilling industry, as being an odd company who, perhaps, could not be bothered to continue working.
The very fact that we could be looked upon as an odd (ODD) company has given us an idea - how can we use the letters ODD as part of a slogan which can appear on a tee shirt?
We have thought of a couple of examples and Pete suggests Oldest Distilling Dynasty. I can come up with One Daily Dram ODD which is sometimes considered to be part of the old distillers prayer "give us this day our daily dram".
We are now giving you the opportunity to come up with your own ODD slogan and we will supply a suitable prize to the winner of the best slogan received by us before 31st January 2009. The winner will receive a bottle of Springbank with their slogan printed on the label.
We will also have the slogan printed on tee shirts which will be worn by our sales staff at Whisky Live 2009 in Tokyo.
Send your suggestions to info@springbankwhisky.com and we will publish the best entries here on the blog before we announce the winner at the end of January.
Frank
Hi There
It is now nearly six months since we took the difficult decision to temporarily suspend the production of spirit from both Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries . There were a few contributing factors which led to our decision and these included the high price of electricity , oil , empty casks and barley . The Still House roof also required replacing and this has now been completed . Our warehouses were pretty full of maturing stock but with bottling continuing to fulfil demand world wide for our products more warehouse space is now available . Six months ago we said that “ the material market will be kept under continuous review “ and we can now clarify that we will commence production from both of our distilleries during early 2009 .
The price of utilities has dropped dramatically recently and we will take advantage of this to get the distilleries producing again . J & A Mitchell have recently been reported by one whisky writer to be like “ the canary in the coal mine “ . If you remember coal miners used to use a canary as an early warning system to detect gas at the coal face . We reckon that we have recognised the warning signals early enough and acted sensibly to protect our brands , and of course the canary . After 180 + years in distilling we think that we know how to react to trends within our industry .
This year we commissioned local farmer Robert Miller to grow 25 acres of Optic barley. The crop has produced 50 tonnes of barley which now lies in our barley loft and we await the barley to come out of dormancy . Distillery Manager Stuart Robertson is carrying out weekly " mini steeps " of the barley in small plastic food containers , they actually look suspiciously like his sandwich box . Once the barley " wakes up " and can germinate we will start malting . The local barley supplemented with malted barley already stored in our malt storage bins will ensure production of spirit at both our distilleries for up to six months next year, great news .
Frank
Cadenhead’s are just about to release some special Christmas bottlings, bottled under the Cadenhead Bond Reserve label which are bottled EXCLUSIVELY for the Cadenhead shops...
If you are looking for a a perfect Christmas gift for someone special or you just want to treat yourself, why not pop along to one of the Cadenhead Tastingrooms:
Also note the London & Campbeltown shops can do tutored Tastings on any of the Cadenhead range.... an ideal gift for Christmas.
Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop & Tasting Room
26 Chiltern Street
London
W1U 7QF Tel: 0044 (0) 207 935 6999
Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop & Tasting Room
7 Bolgam Street
Campbeltown
Argyll
PA28 6HZ Tel: 0044 (0) 1586 551710 (Option 1)
Or pop in and see Mark or Alan in Edinburgh
Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop
172 Canongate
Royal Mile
Edinburgh
EH8 8BN Tel: 0044 (0) 131 556 5864
CHRISTMAS 2008 BOTTLING
BOND RESERVE
CAMPBELTOWN
GLEN SCOTIA DISTILLERY 1999 9Y/O 59.5% RED WINE CASK
Nose: Rich fruity sweetness with wine notes and hints of syrup.
Palate: Oaky; very sweet vanilla. Rose wine characteristics;wine gums. The finish lingers on.
HAZELBURN (DISTILLED AT SPRINGBANK DISTILLERY) 2001 7Y/O 49.4% SMALL CASKS (4)
Nose: Very fruity - apples & peaches. Sweet - marshmallows; pine nuts and hints of treacle.
Palate: Very smooth with a full bodied sweetness. Hints of cloves and treacle. A sweet malty luxurious finish. Much more mature than the age suggests due to the result of maturing in small casks
ISLAY
ARDBEG DISTILLERY 1993 15Y/O 57%
Nose: Vanilla; dry peat; soft burning smoke; sea salt.
Palate: Initial salty sweetness then peat and smoke come through
LAPHROAIG DISTILLERY 1991 17Y/O 52.7%
Nose: Burnt embers; hints of salt. Sweet smoke and hints of Iodine.
Palate: Malty sweetness; smoke and peat (phenolic). An excellent Laphroaig.
ISLAND
HIGHLAND PARK DISTILLERY 1990 18Y/O 53.5%
Nose: Malty; hints of pepper; vanilla pod; cooking apples; caramel sweetness.
Palate: Wow! Malty sweetness; coconut and limes. Very smooth, sweet and very enjoyable.
CLOSED DISTILLERIES
LOWLAND
ST. MAGDALENE (LINLITHGOW) DISTILLERY 1982 26Y/O 52.7%
Nose: Vanilla, almonds, rose petals and marzipan
Palate: Sweet with more marzipan, honey and malt. Well balanced
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Cadenhead’s recently won 5 awards from the Independent Bottlers Challenge 2008. 3 Gold, 1 Bronze and the overall winner from the Islands (non Islay) category. These whiskies should be still available from our Cadenhead shops, so catch them while you can!
Cadenhead’s Campbeltown Whisky Shop 01586 551710 (option 1)
Cadenhead’s London Whisky Shop 0207 935 6999
Cadenhead’s Edinburgh Whisky Shop 0131 556 5864
HIGHLAND PARK DISTILLERY 1985 23Y/O 50.1% GOLD AWARD
Nose: Aromatic, almost perfumed,, orange marmalade and malty.
Palate: Everything you would expect from Highland Park. Oily, rich, slight pepper and spice.
ROYAL BRACKLA DISTILLERY (RUM) 1992 15Y/O 57.3%Vol GOLD AWARD
Nose: A huge rum influence. Marzipan; tropical fruits and brown sugar.
Palate: An excellent balance of whisky and rum. Demerara sugar and hints of spice, Rum notes in the finish.
TOBERMORY DISTILLERY (S) 1994 13Y/O 59.6%Vol GOLD AWARD
Nose: Cocoa; dark chocolate; Oloroso sherry; vanilla fudge; coconut flakes.
Palate: Very well balanced with a good rich oily sweetness. Sea salt turning to tropical fruits and marzipan.
LEDAIG DISTILLERY 1997 11Y/O 57.7%VOL BRONZE AWARD
Nose: Initial musty off notes developing into medicinal notes (let it breathe). Peat in the background along with peanut butter.
Palate: Delicious! Sweet; smokey; oily and salty. Burning embers: wild and young,
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Whisky Live Glasgow
Stuart Robertson, Donald Brown & myself have just return from Whisky Live Glasgow (Friday 31st October/1st November) at the SECC.
There are many Whisky Live events all over the world where it is hard to participate at them all. Since Glasgow is in our homeland we attended this event to show some of the Springbank/Cadenhead products that we had to offer. The festival was well attended with many whisky enthusiasts attending to sample the our products.
I would like to thank everyone who came along to the stand, hope you all enjoyed yourself and I’m sure we will meet again at some other festival or maybe here in Campbeltown at the distillery.
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