Revisiting: Campbeltown Loch Blended Malt

CAMPBELTOWN LOCH BLENDED MALT
Bottled January 30, 2024

MASH BILL – 100% malted barley (blending single malt whiskies from Glen Scotia, Hazelburn, Kilkerran, Longrow, and Springbank)

PROOF – 92

AGE – NAS

DISTILLERY – Springbank

PRICE – $55 (discounted; typically ~$70)

WORTH BUYING? – Yes

Campbeltown Loch sits adjacent to Maclean’s Nose on my home shelf. Both are blended malts by excellent distilleries—Springbank and Ardnamurchan respectively—and offer top quality without breaking the bank.

If I want a good sipper or mixer that leans toward bourbon cask aging, I’ll reach for Maclean’s Nose. For the same but leaning toward sherry cask aging, Campbeltown Loch. The price of the Campbeltown is roughly twice that of Maclean’s Nose, so, I wouldn’t mix with it quite as freely. But “rare” or pricy whiskies have never been off limits for me when it comes to home cocktailing. Better ingredients, better cocktails!

Campbeltown Loch has long been on my perennial faves list. But my recent and lingering shift into an era of sherry fatigue has had me less inclined toward it of late. Nevertheless, one balmy summer night I was in the mood to give it a revisit.

Sipping it on my back porch just after sunset, it matched the weather perfectly. Tangy and dry sherry notes encircled by a whisp of industrial smoke, cantaloupe and honeydew melon, vanilla spiced with a touch of oak, honey, a silky-syrupy texture. In its combination of sweet red fruit and savory oceanside dock notes, Campbeltown Loch paired well with the San Francisco bay’s own summer combo of heat and fog.

So here we are now, five days after uncorking and three pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.

COLOR – smoky russet oranges

NOSE – an elegantly sweet and rich sherry fruitiness, with gentle wafts of industrial smoke, salty sea air, weathered oak, thick rope

TASTE – the sherry notes now have a chocolatey aspect to them, supported by a slippery syrupy texture, with the smoke, oak, and rope notes accenting

FINISH – caramel, sherry, chocolate, smoke

OVERALL – a sherry plume rather than a sherry bomb

That Springbank knack for approachability is on effortless display here—belying the effort that without doubt goes into balancing the blend. The sherry influence does dominate, but without feeling overwhelming. Similarly, the sooty industrial smokiness is prevalent. But it never turns bitter or tarry.

Sherry and smoke define the blend’s core flavor profile. The much subtler oak, rope, and salt notes work like dashes of seasoning—noticeable if one searches for them but easily missed behind the main meal. Today the melon, vanilla, and honey notes I picked up at uncorking seem to have receded into the sherry. But I trust they and other notes will gently ebb and tide over time.

My odd conundrum with Springbank whiskies persists. They’re perfect. Always good. To the point they risk being forgettable. Springbank doesn’t do flashy cartwheels to grab or hold attention. Even their labelling is utilitarian in its direct simplicity. Rather than stunts and showiness, they favor a complexity that doesn’t announce itself. It just sits there, patiently, until and if you come to it. When I pay the kind of prices they command, I prefer something more memorable. But I can never deny the quality at work with Springbank.

Campbeltown Loch is easy to like. It’s not fussy. It’s rich and sweet without feeling decadent or cloying. The smoke and other savory elements keep it firmly grounded. I enjoy it neat. And I have no doubt it will contribute to a great Blood & Sand or Rob Roy cocktail.

Sláinte!