Campbeltown Single Malts
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Campbeltown Single Malts are single malt Scotch whiskies distilled in the burgh of Campbeltown, Scotland, on the Kintyre peninsula. Once a major producer of whisky with as many as 28 distilleries, and claiming the title "whisky capital of the world", the area has since declined, due to economic depression and the area's increasing association with poorer quality whisky. Only three distilleries continue to produce whisky in Campbeltown: Springbank, Glengyle, and Glen Scotia. The Springbank Distillery, however, produces three distinct whiskies, Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow, and is one of only three in the nation to distill more than one whisky at a single location. Glengyle Distillery has only recently been revived and will not see a whisky bottled until around 2014, which will be sold under the name Kilkerran to avoid any confusion with the Highland vatted malt named Glengyle.
Campbeltown is still generally viewed as a separate region (distinct from either the Highlands, Lowlands, or the other whisky producing regions) despite its dearth of active distilleries. (Likewise the Lowlands have waned in this area as well, maintaining only a handful of active distilleries.) The unique geographical position of Campbeltown (situated among the Inner Hebrides, but still tenuously connected to the mainland) makes it difficult to reclassify.
