Springbank 15 Year
Springbank was founded in 1828 and for nearly 200 years has been producing whisky with involvement from the Mitchell family over five generations. In that time, and to the current day, Springbank is one of the few scotch distilleries producing 100% of the process on site, of a sorts. Springbank is one of the only survivors from when Campbeltown was a roaring center of whisky production to the lean times when there were almost none to leading the charge at the dawn of the 21st century to get Campbeltown recognized as a distinct scotch region. In the past couple of decades, Campbeltown has seen a resurgence of interest and popularity and the Springbank releases in particular have become sought after much in the same fashion as some American bourbons like Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, and others. The Springbank 15 has been aged in ex-sherry casks, purportedly from Miguel Martin in Jerez, Spain.
Laphroaig Cairdeas 2021 Pedro Ximénez
The Cairdeas line under Laphroaig was created to celebrate the Friends of Laphroaig, with the word being Gaelic for friendship. The Friends of Laphroaig is similar in some ways to other scotch loyalty clubs (e.g. the Ardbeg Committee) but is a little unique in that there are actually membership levels. Those levels are gained by inputting points gained by purchasing – what else? – bottles of Laphroaig and other distillery products. The three levels of membership are, perhaps unsurprisingly, Peat, Smoke and Oak. The Cairdeas 2021 is a cask strength scotch that began maturation in standard ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred to smaller quarter casks for more wood influence and then finished in ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry hogshead casks.
Copper Fox Wasmund’s Single Malt
Virginia has a long tradition of whiskey, with companies like A. Smith Bowman among others. As with many other states, it is currently enjoying a craft whiskey boom, with younger distilleries like Reservoir popping up. Copper Fox, though being a little on the older site of the current boom (founded 2005), is doing something slightly different: an American Single Malt, made in the Scottish style using apple and other fruit woods as a source of the smoke. No surprise given founder Rick Wasmund interned at the fabled Bowmore Distillery.