I was lucky because that’s right around when they released the two “Green” Springbanks, and I was able to snag a bottle of each at the Eaglesome’s shop just down the road. I stil have been able to talk myself into opening them. I turn 50 in 2010. Maybe then.

2009 promises to be a very exciting year for all involved with Springbank.

The next bottling in the Wood Expression range will bottled in January, and is a Springbank 11 Year Old, which has spend its full maturation in ex-Madeira Casks. 9990 bottles

Springbank 18 Year Old will also be released in March next year. We have a collection of casks from 1989, 1990 and 1991 that Frank and Stuart will vat together for release in 2009. The Springbank 18 year old will become part of the standard range with an initial release of 7920 bottles.

Hazelburn will reach 12 Years Old in June and we will be releasing approx. 4000 bottles of Hazelburn 12 year old, using whisky from 1997, the first year old distillation.

Perhaps the most exciting of all will be the Kilkerran “work in progress.” Mitchell’s Glengyle distillery opened in 2004, and we will be releasing an un-aged (5 year old) kilkerran to map the maturation of Campbeltown newest “old’ distillery.

We are also hoping to release Springbank “vintage” range. Until now we have had problems getting the label approved by the A.F.T. as apparently we can not use the word vintage on the label of a distilled spirit. We are once again looking at altering the label for Batch 3 to see if we can get approval.

Surely these releases will get us a nomination for distiller of the year? We have canaries to feed!

cheers

Peter

I’m sure that you have covered most of these issues before, but i think some of the criticism towards Preiss Imports is a bit unfair.

To buy Longrow CV in the UK, with VAT, would cost £29.00. 6 months ago that was about $60. To have it shipped to the America will cost £10/£15 per bottle, not much of a saving.

Preiss Imports have to work within the constraints of the three-tier system. They have to pay licensing fees for each different label in each different state, and have 3 extra companies/brokers needing their margin before it hits the shelves. Add this with a strong pound over the last few years and the price soon shoots up.

Hopefully this info will go some way to answering questions on pricing, although I’m sure it doesn’t make it any easier to part with hard-earned cash.

cheers

Peter

As for the UK/US price difference? We’ve been Preiss-gouged again!

Let me second the motion in hoping that upcoming older Springbank and Longrow releases are resonably priced in the US. But The Whisky Exchange lists the Longrow CV for L24.67 w/o VAT, and the best price that I have seen here is $60

Slainte.

Louis

And Harvey, don’t worry. I will go out on a limb as far as my time allows me to. I’m not afraid to go out on limbs. There’s just too many limbs and I have to pick and choose which one to go out on.

most of these masters of our whisky universe are good &
strong enough to survive the coming bust. hopefully, at
least some of their excessive performance art gimmickry
(not to mention down right rip-offs)’ll go (good riddance)
off into the great slithery fog from whence it came. then,
with a li’l'luck, it’ll take its time coming back.

Springbank, not having to pay severance to the ride in &
out cockroaches, will do just fine. +, if they put out a li’l’
something special next year, we can expect it to be fairly
priced. at least it will if Henry Preiss doesn’t do his ‘what
the traffic will bear’ (the special 21 & 32 were marked up
nearly 100 percent over the going price in the UK) 2 step
turnaround on it. &, if things look then like they look like
they’re going to look now, he wouldn’t dare. besides, i
hear (now that he’s sold the company) he’s back out in
the great outdoors cavorting with the customers & doing
the kind of things he loves.

hey John, i understand your not wanting to climb too far
out on limbs. but, when you know something exciting is
going on over there, i really believe you could come to
have enough clout to influence its spread by persistently
asking the right questions &, maybe even once in a while,
weighing in on its prospects over here. if you don’t want
the extra work (+ the power that might come with it) i’ll
let it go. but, please think about it. with the troubles
coming, i think the American consumer is gonna be very
much in need of some kind of arbiter/ombudsman going
to bat for him. who could do it better than you?

also, please let me know if/when my stuff gets a li’l’ too
blogsy? i realize i sometimes ride/dance pretty close to
the line between good fun & a fairly dark vulpine vim.