Five Must-Try Single Malts from Campbeltown

Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown produces 3 distinct labels of single malt: Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow. Being one of the few family-owned distilleries left in Scotland allows them to experiment with different casks, methods of distillation, and levels of peating. Hazelburn is triple-distilled and unpeated (the malt is air dried); Sprinkbank is 2.5 times distilled and lightly peated; and Longrow is twice-distilled and heavily peated. After maturing ten years in ex-bourbon casks, this expression gets bottled at 46% ABV.

Longrow, which has been distilled by the Springbank distillery in Campbeltown region of Scotland since 1973, is an experiment to prove that an Islay-style whisky could be successfully produced on the mainland. Double-distilled with 100% peated malts and aged in ex-bourbon barrels before being bottled without an age statement at 92 proof. Formerly known as Longrow C.V., the current bottling enjoys a new packaging but still offers the same beautiful range of flavors and aromas that we have come to expect from Springbank.

Victoriana is a non-age statement (NAS) Scotch from one of the last three remaining Campbeltown distilleries. It was introduced in 2015 as part of the distillery's international rebranding. The casks were selected from its reserve cellar (to have one is considered a very Victorian value - hence the name) for their individual characteristics, then married together in a barrel that's been given a heavy char. It's bottled without chill-filtration.

Perhaps because Springbank Distillery is family owned rather than being in the hands of a large corporation, they can be a bit more experimental. This distillery employs three different recipes and ergo three different names of single malts: Hazelburn, Longrow, and Springbank. They vary in the number of times they are distilled and the different levels of peat for their malts. Springbank is distilled 2 1/2 times and is lightly peated.

Released in August 2016, Kilkerran 12 Year is the highly anticipated flagship whisky from Mitchell's Glengyle Distillery in Campbeltown. Since Hedley Wright, great-great nephew of Mitchell himself re-opened the distillery in 2004, they've been releasing experimental "Work in Progress" whiskies while waiting for this one to mature. Lightly peated and double-distilled, 70% of the single malt aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and the remaining 30% matured in sherry. Non-chill-filtered without added coloring, it is bottled at 46% ABV.