Campbeltown Malts Festival 2016 – Programm

As you may know, the Campbeltown Malts Festival will take place from Wednesday 18th – Friday 20th May 2016 and for the third year running, Campbeltown’s three distilleries will team up to host events in celebration of the whiskies produced at Springbank, Glengyle and Glen Scotia. Please find further details below including the bookable events for each day of the festival:

Wednesday 18th May 2016

On the first day of the festival, there will be a range of events taking place including an exclusive Springbank Society Tasting, the Glen Scotia Open Day and a dinner at Mitchell’s Glengyle Distillery, with additional events to be confirmed.

Springbank Society Tasting (11:30am)

For the fourth year running, we will be holding an exclusive tasting for Springbank Society Members to attend, for free, on the Wednesday. To ensure this does not clash with any of Glen Scotia’s Open Day tastings, the Society Tasting will take place at 11:30am in the Malt Barns at Springbank Distillery.

The format will be similar to the 2013 and 2015 tastings with Society Members getting the opportunity to chose what the Autumn Society bottling will be this year. The Society Tasting will be limited to a maximum of 60 people and places are likely to fill up very quickly so please email mairi@springbankwhisky.com or call +44 (0) 1586 55 2009 asap to book your spot and make sure you don’t miss out.

Glen Scotia Open Day – Start time TBC

For the second year, Glen Scotia Distillery will be holding their Open Day on the Wednesday of the Campbeltown Malts Festival. The distillery will be hosting tours and tastings as well as launching their 3rd Distillery only Single Cask on the Open Day. They are planning other activities for the day and also over the other two days of the festival so please look out for regular announcements on the Glen Scotia website (www.glenscotia.com) and their Facebook / Twitter pages.

Dinner at Mitchell’s Glengyle Distillery

To celebrate the upcoming official 12 year old release of Kilkerran Single Malt, this year our special dinner will be held at Mitchell’s Glengyle Distillery on Wednesday 18th May 2016 at 7pm.

On arrival to Glengyle Distillery, you will sample a selection of whiskies, hand drawn from the cask. You will be asked to vote for your favourite sample and, at the end of the evening, you will receive your own 70cl bottle from the most popular cask.

Following this, you will be greeted with a champagne reception alongside a range of locally sourced canapés.

You will then be led to our dinner location to enjoy a four course meal with a specially selected wine to accompany each course. To conclude your unique evening, each guest will be presented with their own exclusive 70cl hand drawn bottle, chosen earlier in the evening from a selection of casks sampled. During the evening, staff from Springbank, Glengyle and Cadenhead’s will be present to chat to and enjoy a few drams with.

The cost of the dinner is £250.00 per person and payment is required upon booking to secure your place. Numbers are limited to 40 people so please book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. There will be a set menu so please advise us of any dietary requirements you have when booking. To book your place, please email mairi@springbankwhisky.com or call +44 (0) 1586 55 2009.

Thursday 19th May 2016

Springbank Open Day (from 11am)

As always, the Springbank Open Day will take place on the second day of the Campbeltown Malts Festival and will include a range of activities including free distillery tours, a range of tastings and masterclasses, local craft and food stalls, exclusive bottlings and the popular warehouse whisky bar, among lots of other activities including live music in the Malt Barns in the evening.

The tasting and masterclasses for the day are now available to book and details of each can be found below:

• 11:30am: Springbank Intimate Tasting: How wood influences our spirit (1 hour / 30 people max / £25 per person, includes Glencairn glass)
• 12:30pm: The Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tasting (45 mins / 25 people max / £20 per person)
• 12:45pm: Kilkerran Mini Masterclass: Trio of Single Casks (30 minutes / 60 people max / £15 per person, includes Glencairn glass)
• 1:30pm: Springbank Masterclass: New and Forthcoming Releases (1 hour / 60 people max / £25 per person, includes Glencairn glass)
• 2:30pm: The Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tasting (45 mins / 25 people max / £20 per person)
• 2:45pm: Springbank Intimate Tasting: Favourites from the past (1 hour / 30 people max / £25 per person, includes Glencairn glass)
• 3:45pm: Cadenhead Masterclass: Cask Samples & Current Bottlings (1 hour / 60 people max / £25 per person, includes Glencairn glass)
• 4:30pm: The Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tasting (45 mins / 25 people max / £20 per person)

The 12:45pm Kilkerran Mini Masterclass, 1:30pm Springbank Masterclass and 3:45pm Cadenhead Masterclass will take place in the Malt Barns at Springbank Distillery (meet at the Malt Barns 10 minutes before tasting begins).

The 11:30am and 2:45pm Springbank Intimate Tastings will take place in Warehouse 10, Springbank’s newest warehouse (meet at the Distillery Office 10 minutes before tasting begins).

The 12:30pm, 2:30pm and 4:30pm Distillery Manager’s Springbank Warehouse Tastings will take place in Warehouse 3 at Springbank Distillery (meet at the Distillery Office 10 minutes before tasting begins).

To book any of the above tastings or masterclasses or for more information, please email mairi@springbankwhisky.com or call +44 (0) 1586 55 2009. Please note that payment will be required to confirm booking.

Friday 20th May 2016

The final day of the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2016 will be dedicated to Mitchell’s Glengyle Distillery and Cadenhead’s Independent Bottler.

To celebrate the first official 12 year old release from Kilkerran Single Malt (which will be released in August 2016 and unfortunately not available to purchase beforehand), we are holding a few events at Glengyle Distillery to mark the occasion, where the first official tasting of this product will take place. In addition, we will also have some Cadenhead tastings and a ‘Lucky Dip Bar’ during the day.

Friday events will kick off at 10am with the first Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting of the day. This will be hosted by Mark Watt and take place in one of the traditional warehouses at Springbank Distillery. The cost will be £30 per person and will include a Cadenhead glass.

At 11am we will open the gates to Glengyle Distillery where there will be hourly free tours of the distillery, local food stalls and local musicians providing a background sound to the day. We will also have a Cadenhead ‘Lucky Dip’ bar set up with lots of Cadenhead whiskies available to taste (Mark already has some samples looked out which take up half his office!!)

At 12 noon, we will be holding a Kilkerran Masterclass where we will look back and taste a selection of 6 whiskies from the Work in Progress series, concluding with the EXCLUSIVE FIRST TASTE of Kilkerran 12yo whisky. The cost will be £25 per person and will include a Kilkerran glass.

At 2pm, we will have a Question & Answer session with an expert panel who are, or have been, involved with the build, running or promoting of the distillery. The panel will be ready to answer any questions you have and it will be the ideal opportunity to ask any questions you’ve always been afraid to! You will also be treated to 3 drams throughout the session, including an EXCLUSIVE sample of the upcoming Kilkerran 12yo whisky. The cost of the Q&A session is £10 per person.

Events at Glengyle, including the Cadenhead Lucky Dip Bar, food and music will conclude at 3.30pm and at this time, there will be a second Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting taking place back at Springbank Distillery. Again, this will cost £30 per person and will include a Cadenhead glass.

Additional features may be added to the Friday events including something in the evening but more information will be available on this as soon as we have it finalised.

As a summary, the events now available for booking on Friday 20th May 2016 are:

• 10am: Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting with Mark Watt
  (1 hour / 30 people max / £30 per person, includes Cadenhead glass)
• 12 noon: Reflection on the Kilkerran Work in Progress series (6 whiskies), including EXCLUSIVE FIRST TASTING of Kilkerran 12yo whisky (1 hour / 60 people max / £25 per person, includes Kilkerran glass)
• 2pm: Question & Answer Session with expert panel, including EXCLUSIVE FIRST TASTING of Kilkerran 12yo whisky (1 hour / 60 people max / £10 per person
• 3:30pm: Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting with Mark Watt (1 hour / 30 people max / £30 per person, includes Cadenhead glass)

If you would like to book onto any of the tastings or events listed above then please let me know as soon as possible. You can email me to mairi@springbankwhisky.com or call me on +44 (0) 1586 55 2009. Just a reminder – payment will be required upon booking so please be aware of this when emailing or calling and I look forward to hearing from many of you soon!