Anyone tried Campeltown Loch 25yo?

by **Pelle** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 12:59 am

According to the experts it´s an ace (as good as any 25yo Springbank...).
Anyone tried it?

by **BruceCrichton** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 11:46 pm

Yes. It's very good and very strongly sherried.

It's also worth buying the common or garden version for comparison purposes as I think that Campbeltown loch is very nice as well.

by **Tigger** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 5:16 pm

Campbeltown Loch 25 is a great dram! After all it contains 1972 Ardbeg and 1974 Springbank - Can't go wrong with that...

by **Nic Rhodes** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 9:02 pm

Just wish I could find this mythical dram?

by **Ize** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 11:29 am

I, myself, wish that I would have money to buy this dram ...

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 2:09 pm

You can buy this from Royal Mile Whiskies for £25

by **Ize** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 6:49 am

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hairball:
You can buy this from Royal Mile Whiskies for £25<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Say what?! Darn, my first thought it to be as expensive as Springbank (to which it was compared). ;-)

Hopefully, my whisky provider will take that item on the shelf soon.

Kippis,
Ize

by **Deactivated Member** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 6:34 pm

I tasted it last year in Copenhagen, it was Euen Mitchell him self who poored me that dram, I was amazed, and more surprised when he told me that the price of this gem was 25 GBP...Grat stuff, must order quickly, money worth stuff...

Erik

by **BruceCrichton** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 8:27 pm

Cadenhead's are the makers of this whisky and you can get this one from their shops for about £25.

It consists of malts which have been rejected for single cask bottlings (though not necessarily bad whiskies) and they have then spent at least 10 further years in sherry casks.

This 25 year old represents a clearout for Cadenhead's as does their 21 year old so get your hands on it quickly.

by **Dave Stirk** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 8:25 am

Hi Bruce,

sorry to correct you again about the CL 25 & 21. It's made by the Springbank team and is a blend of very old malts and grains - some much older than 25yo.

The example you gave about the rejected Cadenhead whisky came from an answer I gave to the question "what do you do with rejected whisky".

The answer was "we will often re-cask it, blend it and vat it".

Also it isn't a 'clearout' - it is simply a one-off that will (probably) never be repeated.

In other words, it really has nothing to do with Cadenhead's - I am just a huge fan of it!

Hope this clears things up abit.

David

by **BruceCrichton** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 5:43 pm

As usual, I stand corrected.

by **BruceCrichton** » Mon May 12, 2003 6:03 pm

Just rechecking my notes and I find that David told me that CL 25 yr contains 1967 Tamdhu, 1970 Macallan and 27 yr old North British among others.

by **Ian_Hamilton** » Tue May 13, 2003 7:20 pm

Just to throw another spanner in the works.
I read on the Whisky Exchange site that it contained Springbank from around 1970 and Ardbeg from 71 but I heard from a very reliable source that it doest contain any Springbank at all!
Anyone??

by **BruceCrichton** » Thu May 15, 2003 4:54 pm

Why not just buy a bottle from Royal Mile whiskies and have done with it?

by **Nic Rhodes** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:37 pm

Cadenheads told me it had a substantial proportion of 58 MaCallan in. Don't believe them on any of the quoted malts but it is a mighty fine bottle for £25-30. I am enjoying it. I will get more. The 21 will follow shortly

by **BruceCrichton** » Fri May 23, 2003 7:13 pm

Is the 21 yr old still available?

That and the 25 yr old sold out very quickly at the Dufftown festival when David Stirk presented samples for tasting.

He told me that the 21 yr old was almost a 25 yr old as there was hardly any whisky in there at 21 yr old and most of it was over 25.

I can't wait to see if it does come out.

by **Nic Rhodes** » Sat May 24, 2003 6:38 pm

Due shortly according to the springbank rep

by **dstirk** » Mon May 26, 2003 8:08 am

Hi Nic,

why don't you believe us regarding the malts inside CL? Why not email Springbank and find out more about what's inside - I think you may be surprised.

Also the 21yo is discontinued - you may be referring to the Springbank 21yo which will be bottled again once it has aged accordingly.

Regards,

David

by **WhiskyHill** » Mon May 26, 2003 6:13 pm

Hello All, I did send off an e-mail to Euan regarding the constituant whiskies in the Campbeltown Loch 25 make-up. I hope to get a reply before too long. I've heard from a couple of sources about this, and the lists of malts and grains and their ages don't jive. All I can share is that for the price ($50 - $60 in the US) it's one H*** of a fine dram. Regarding the Springbank 21 year old, do the math. Springbank didn't restart fully from the shutdown until 1987. SO to have sufficient stocks for a new bottling won't happen until 2008 or 2009. Yes, I'm aware that Springbank did fire up the stills for a couple of breif periods during the mid 1980s, but would there be enough malt on hand to bottle a 21 year old before 2008? I think not. Although largely extinct in the states, the 21 can be found (I found a solitary bottle for sale in Nashville 2 weeks ago for $115). Some of the larger stores may have stocks, but they're asking collector's prices for it. The last bottling of the 21 was destined for the US about 2 years ago. This bottling I was told had a large quantity of 30 year old malt in the make up, as there wasn't enough 21 or 30 year old left at the distillery to do a separate bottling of either. That bottling was quite heavily sherried, and retailed between $110 and $155 at the time of release.

by **Nic Rhodes** » Mon May 26, 2003 6:18 pm

The list of malts reads too much like a whos who for me. I asked Cadenheads straight in the shop what was in it. They said they can't possibly tell anyone, next thing I know we are talking 58 MaCallan. It just didn't hang together as a complete story to me. I am just happy drinking the 25 CL and I happy at that. Call me cynical if you want

The shop got out the new Springbank brochure and the shop guy told me the follow up to 25 CL would be the 21 in a few months time. The follow up to 25 Moildard (?) will be a much better 30 year old.

Frankly I suspect that there is much miss informnation here, probably not SP fault so I am happy to leave it CL 25 being one of the best blends I have ever drunk and it is a BARGAIN of proportions that rarely come up.

A full list would be nice though?

Took me ages to track it down in the end, had to travel 400 miles!

by **dstirk** » Tue May 27, 2003 8:26 am

I suppose some confusion could be due to the fact that Springbank Distillers bottled a 21yo Campbeltown Loch and a 25yo Campbeltown Loch - both had slightly different constituents. I happen to know that in at least the 21yo there is a very old Macallan, Tamdhu and North British.

The Moidart won't be replaced with a 30yo nor will there be anymore 25yo (not in the near future anyhow). Just the 10yo for the time being.

What amazes me about the Campbeltown Loch (as someone who regularly drinks it), are those customers who claim it is 'expensive' - I often intercept people in one of the shops who are looking for an excellent whisky for a beginning drinker. Well for me the CL 25 is perfect (although it does start them near the top). The fact that it is a blend often puts people off, and then the price tag (they were wanting to spend maximum £20).

Oh well, I guess that leaves more of it for you and me.

David

by **Nic Rhodes** » Tue May 27, 2003 5:54 pm

It is as I feared alot or poor info from the Cadenhead shop, this was why I was sceptical. The talk about MaCallan 58 only surfaced when the shop guy realised I was knowledgeable about my malts. I felt it was shoved in 'to impress'. It didn't. I collect 6 b of CL25 tomorrow, 'for the summer'

by **Frodo** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:51 pm

I guess I wanted to revive this thread to ask specificly about the 21yr old Campbeltown Loch. I found a bottle (probably last one in the LCBO) for C$84. I already got one and am contemplating the last one. Usually I don't go for blended whiskies, but the reveiws here seem good. I'm very suspisious of the colour-deep mahogany!

I do think it's weird that Springbank has done the bottling for this, and the title suggests that Springbank might be in the blend. But according to one poster, Tamdhu and Macallan are the dominant top dressing malts.

Any feedback or comments would be appretiated.

Frodo

by **hpulley** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:27 pm

If you believe their online inventory (and I don't really believe it these days), there are 28 bottles left.

Have you tried any yet? Like you I'm not much of a blend guy but I was tempted.

Harry

by **Frodo** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:09 am

Nah. Going through a health kick, so I'm taking it easy on opening new bottles. I should be back up to speed in about 3-4 months. Green tea and the odd tasting at the LCBO tasting tower for now.

Frodo

P.S. Read the notes in this thread and you'll be tempted even more I imagine!

by **WestVanDave** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:37 am

Harry & Frodo - I had seen a clearout price for the Campbeltown Loch 25 posted on the LBO website some months ago - but then called around and couldn't find any in stock. I have bought the same in Alberta for approx. $69 Cdn.

I am not an avid blend fan - but found this to be less impacted by the presence of grain - and quite pleasant.

Also, I was at a Springbank Tasting Event in Calgary last month - with Kate Wright from Springbank - and we started the evening with a the Campbeltown Loch 21. Again - it was quite enjoyable - but not memorable - but that could be because it was followed by:

The Springbank 10, Longrow 10 (Sherry), Springbank 15, Springbank 100 Proof, Springbank 21 and a Springbank 1966... with dinner... then after dinner the new Longrow 14, and a couple of others that I don't trust my memory to recall (go figure) - and I can't find my notes at the moment...

Overall an amazing evening. The 21 and the 1966 are on my list of "lifetime favourites"

Cheers, Dave.