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End Date : Jun 24 2026 08:00 PM
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Springbank 21 Year Old. Bottled circa 1990. Archibald Mitchell label. 75cl. 46%. In presentation box.
The Archibald Mitchell Springbank 21 Year Old is one of the most charming and increasingly elusive official Springbank releases of the late twentieth century. Produced for only a short period during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, it was among the earliest expressions to feature Springbank’s distinctive dumpy bottle and parchment-style label design, a presentation that has since become iconic among collectors of older Campbeltown malts.
Archibald Mitchell was the original illicit distiller whose activities pre-dated the establishment of Springbank in 1828, this bottling celebrates the family whose stewardship has shaped the distillery for almost two centuries. Archibald’s sons, John and William Mitchell, acquired Springbank in 1837, and remarkably the distillery remains under Mitchell family ownership to this day.
Distilled during the celebrated late 1960s or very early 1970s, a period widely regarded as one of Springbank’s greatest eras, this 21-year-old captures the distillery’s traditional character at a time when production methods remained largely unchanged. Rich yet refined, it offers the elegant balance of tropical fruits, waxes, gentle coastal notes and subtle earthy complexity that has made mature Springbank from this era so highly prized.
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.
Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.
This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.
| BID | DATE | TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| £360.00 | 20th June 2026 | 05:00 PM | |
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