My name is Frank McHardy and I have worked within the whisky industry for a period of 44 years.

I have worked for
Invergordon Grain Distillery as a shift worker (1963 - 1965),
Tamnavulin Distillery as a shift worker (1966 - 1972), 
Bruichladdich Distillery as Assistant Manager (1973 - 1977), 
Springbank Distillery as Manager (1977 - 1986), 
Bushmills Distillery as Master Distiller (1986 - 1996), 
Springbank Distillery as General Manager now Director of Production (1996 - Present).

During a long career in the Whisky business I have seen many changes both in the way that companies are run and in the manner that they are run. In the old days around 50 % of distilleries were owned by private companies, now only a very small percentage are totally independent.

My happiest times during my career have been spent at Springbank and Bushmills Distilleries. Bushmills taught me a lot of the business side of running a distillery and the Irish people are fantastic. Springbank would be the most traditional distillery that I have worked at.

Springbank Distillery has existed in Campbeltown since 1828 and our present Managing Director is the great - great - grandson of the original founder. Springbank is the oldest continuously family owned distillery in Scotland. Springbank is also the only distillery in Scotland to carry out 100 % of the whole process to turn barley into bottles of whisky.

We also own Glengyle Distillery which was completely refurbished during the years 2000 - 2004 and has produced spirit each year since 2004. The first casks filled during April 2004 are now over three years old and can be called whisky. Glengyle was the first new distillery opened in Scotland during the 21st Century.

The company who owns Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries, J & A Mitchell & Co. Ltd. employs almost 35 people in Campbeltown but only eight are actually involved with the production processes at the distilleries. Production operators now work for fifty weeks of each year either malting barley or mashing / distilling at either distillery.

We tend to have our production people producing malted barley and fill up the malt storage bins, this will take two months. They will then mash/distill the malted barley and this will take another month and a half. They then produce more malted barley and so on. The malted barley used at Glengyle is all produced at Springbank maltings.

Springbank produces three different types of whisky, Hazelburn which is a non peated triple distilled product, very light in the Scottish Lowland style. Longrow which is double distilled in the traditional Scottish way uses malted barley which has been dried almost exclusively with peat. This gives a smokey "Islay style" of whisky. Original Springbank is lightly peated and is distilled using a process known by us as "2 and a half distillation". During this process fermented wash is distilled to produce Low Wines, Low Wines are distilled to produce Feints. A mixture containing 90 % of Feints and 10 % of Low Wines is then distilled in the third still and the middle part of this distillation is kept as spirit.

This year (2007) for the first time we will be carrying out malting, mashing and distilling all at the same time at Springbank Distillery. This will happen during October and the first two weeks in November.

At this time we have decided to run a Whisky School to give people the opportunity to come here and learn all the processes to turn barley into bottles of whisky. Pupils will work on a "one to one" basis with our operators and will also receive tuition from myself as "Rector" of the school and Stuart Robertson, Distillery Manager. Our Tasting Room Manager, Ranald Watson, will be carrying out a tasting for the pupils. There are still places available for the School and to find out more you should look at http://www.springbankdistillers.com/springbank-whisky/campbeltown/whisky-school.php or call us on +44 (0 ) 1586 552009. Should be good fun.

Sweden is one of my favourite countries to visit, mainly because you all speak English. The Swedes are also very knowledgeable regarding Scotch Whisky and I always enjoy coming to Sweden to talk to your Whisky Clubs about the subject. We used to sell casks of Springbank, unfortunately the cask offer scheme stopped during 2000, and the Swedes were the biggest purchaser of the casks.

Sweden would also be one of the biggest markets that we have for our Springbank 10 year old Single Malt.

Close for now but will contribute again in the future.

Slainthe

Frank McHardy - Director of ProductionSpringbank and Glengyle Distilleries