Springbank 1996-2005 - 9 Year Old - Murray McDavid

Springbank is one of the giants of the Scotch whisky world, an independently-owned distillery dedicated to preserving the traditional methods of distillation. For a long time Springbank was flying the flag for Campbeltown whisky almost alone but the distillery’s fortunes have improved since the 1990s, and in 2000 Springbank expanded their operations with the purchase and subsequent reconstruction of the Glengyle distillery, home of Kilkerran.

The Springbank distillery produces three distinct single malt whiskies, with the regular lightly-peated Springbank malt complemented by the heavily-peated Longrow and the unpeated, triple-distilled Hazelburn. Of these secondary malts, Longrow has a longer history and more passionate fanbase, with the 1973/74 vintages in particular attracting eye-catching prices at auction. The standard Springbank spirit remains one of Scotland’s greatest whiskies, and auction prices for old bottles continue to rise.

Independent whisky bottler Murray McDavid was founded by La Réserve wine merchants Simon Coughlin and Mark Reynier with Gordon Wright from Springbank in 1994. Murray McDavid quickly established themselves in the new wave of indie bottlers, with a string of great whiskies bottled without colouring or chill filtration at a minimum strength of 46%.

After a failed bid for Ardbeg in 1997, Murray McDavid bought Bruichladdich distillery in 2000 and swiftly transformed the rundown distillery’s fortunes, employing Jim McEwan as manager and embracing the wine finishing trend with gusto. In 2012 Murray McDavid & Bruichladdich were bought by Rémy Cointreau, who sold Murray McDavid to Aceo Ltd, another whisky broker and bottling company, the following year.