What is Reddit's opinion of Scotch Missed: The Original Guide to the Lost Distilleries of Scotland?

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Introductory Comments: At the turn of the 20th century, Campbeltown was the "whisky capital of the world," with approximately twenty distilleries operating at its peak and over thirty different distilleries that had opened over the years. But by 1934, only two remained: Springbank and Glen Scotia. So what happened? Why was the whisky industry in Campbeltown so swiftly and thoroughly devastated? As it turns out, there is no one singular root cause for the demise of Campbeltown whisky, but rather, a combination of the broader macroeconomic conditions of the time and unfortunate circumstances and events that were specific to the region.

William Knox, a lecturer of Scottish history at the University of St. Andrews, writes in detail here about the history of the Scottish economy from 1840 to 1940. Even though the Great Depression didn't strike the United States and subsequently the rest of the world until 1929, Scotland's struggles began much earlier:

> Following the end of hostilities in 1918 the Scottish economy enjoyed a brief period of expansion as a re-stocking boom occurred. However, the honeymoon was soon over as the economy plunged headlong into depression in 1920 where it remained until the rearmament boom of the late 1930s.

Knox describes unemployment rates ranging from 14% in the 1920's up to 20% in the 1930's, and during the 1920's 8% of the entire population emigrated in search of better conditions. All of Scotland's major industries suffered during this period, and any whisky distillery would have struggled to thrive in the midst of such a depression.

In addition to the depression that Scotland experienced in the 20's and 30's, Prohibition in the United States certainly had an impact as well, although it's hard to assess precisely how much of a role it played in Campbeltown's demise. This 2007 "e-pistle" by Konstantin Grigoriadas nicely summarizes the effects that Prohibition had on the scotch whisky industry. After an immediate drop in exports to the States, the industry was quickly able to adapt by leveraging both the "medicinal loophole" and an abundance of illicit smuggling routes in order to get scotch whisky into America. So for a given blend or region, the question wasn't whether or not they could export whisky to the States -- because they could -- but rather, could they make it through Prohibition with their reputations in tact and in position to capitalize when it was eventually repealed. Maintaining reputation during this time meant not only a commitment to quality, but also fighting the scourge of fakes and substitutes. It was in these regards that Campbeltown seems to have faltered. In this interview with Springbank sales manager David Allen, he offers this anecdote about Al Capone:

> ...Al Capone, who was said to have made low-quality bootleg whisky and put them in Campbel-town casks to try to pass it off as genuine Scotch whisky.

That may just be an urban legend, but perhaps an even more serious threat to Campbeltown was a sharp decline in the quality of their whisky in the 1920's as they struggled to meet demand. As an example, here is another anecdote from Allen:

> “When there was a lot of demand for Campbeltown whisky, some distillers started cutting corners and the quality of the whisky came down. There was even a story of a distiller who started ageing his whisky in herring casks, which had held fish before! That sort of thing probably damaged the reputation of the whisky as well."

This drop in quality, which led blenders to increasingly favor the Speyside whiskies, was also exacerbated by an unfortunate local development that would have only had a negative impact on Campbeltown. Part of what made Campeltown such a strong whisky region was its close proximity to a coal mine and a railway to bring the coal in. But this was not to last, as Brian Townsend states in his excellent book Scotch Missed:

> [Eventually] the coal seam at Drumlemble colliery ran out. The mine closed around 1923, ending cheap local fuel supplies. The closure also proved the death knell for the railway, which could not exist on passenger and summer day-trip traffic alone. It ceased running around 1930...

Everyone in the business of scotch whisky faced an enormous challenge during the Scottish depression and Prohibition, but the collapse of Campbeltown's coal and rail business may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for the region. In the mid 1920's, with quality, reputation, and sales plummeting, nearly all of Campbeltown's distilleries closed, and by 1930 only three distilleries remained. In 1934, Rieclachan closed, leaving just Springbank and Glen Scotia. These two stood as Campbeltown's lone distilleries until 2004, when J&A Mitchell reopened Glengyle distillery, in part to secure Campbeltonwn's status an SWA-recognized whisky region by virtue of having three distilleries.

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Glen Scotia 15 (46% ABV, non-chillfiltered, E150 added, aged for 15 years in American oak barrels)

• Nose: Vanilla, caramel, milk chocolate, green apple, banana, cherry, and an industrial, motor oily kind of funkiness
• Palate: Thick, creamy, buttery mouthfeel on more sweet vanilla, toffee, and cherries, with some developing tannic oak, baking spice, and maltiness
• Finish: More buttery and creamy notes along with milk chocolate, coconut, cinnamon, and a bit of grease, licorice, and astringency

Score: 84/100

Comments: I can't pretend that there's no chance I wouldn't think this was a bourbon if someone poured a dram of this and handed it to me blind, especially if it were a part of a broader bourbon tasting. On the nose and the palate, the most assertive aromas and flavors that I get are the kind of vanilla, caramel, and cherry notes that I associate with many bourbons. But in spite of the heavy-handed American oak influence here, the distillate is still able to make tself known, especially on the nose where there is a pronounced industrial funk. And on the palate, behind all the sweet vanilla and toffee, there is some maltiness in the background that rounds things out a bit. The finish is decently strong and long-lasting, but not a significant departure from what I get on the palate. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this whisky is the mouthfeel, which I found to be quite thick and buttery given the proof.

I'm going with a final score of 84, which is above my median but is perhaps still a bit low because of my personal preferences. I'm not a huge fan of scotch that derives most of its profile from first-fill ex-bourbon casks, and to my senses, Glen Scotia 15 is one of those scotches. But the distillate has enough character of its own to complement the ex-bourbon notes to some extent, and the mouthfeel alone is worth several points. And when you factor in the price for this, which is excellent in many markets, it makes for an easy recommendation for someone who likes ex-bourbon maturation and wants a little Campbeltown funk.

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Scoring & Recommendation Guide: Assigning a rating to a whisky is a subjective and imperfect process. I have adapted the 100 point, American-style grading scale mainly because that's what most of the entries in the whisky review archive use. I tend to write a lot about the whiskies I review, beyond just a list of tasting notes and a score, because I think that's where most of the value in a review is to be found. But here are my scoring statistics thus far. I regard 90 and above as being great and something I would happily buy again, 80-89 is good, 70-79 is mediocre, and 50 and below is undrinkable.

• # of Reviews: 67
• Mean: 79.6
• Std Dev: 11.5
• Median: 82
• Min: 33
• Max: 94