Desert Island Drams – Klaus Doblmann

This weeks Desert Island Dram is nominated by Klaus Doblmann. Klaus is a whisky blogger from Austria. He blogs in English and focuses on reviewing whiskies with the occasional opinion piece thrown in.

My whisky experience started right after my 18th birthday, over 10 years ago, with a bottle of Jim Beam (for making an Irish Coffee after a recipe our English teacher told us, if you believe it…) and I quickly progressed towards the Single Malts, my favourite tipple and my passion ever since. My first malt was a bottle of 8yo Glen Ord and my first really memorable dram was the classic Springbank 10yo 100 proof (RIP). Annual visits to Scotland with my brothers have deepened my love for the country, the distilleries and the true water of life.

Choosing a Desert Island Dram is a bit like choosing your favourite child – but I’ll try anyway. My choice would be a Port Pipe filled with well-aged Longrow distillate from the Springbank distillery, situated in the “wee toon” of Campbeltown.

Springbank, to me, is a magical place and if someone pointed a gun at my head forcing me to choose a favourite distilery, this would be it. A working museum, whisky made in small quantities the traditional way, everything done on site from malting to bottling. No-frills whisky, no BS marketing techniques, no space experiments, no overhyped posh bottlings for millionaires (it’s not their fault old bottlings go for crazy sums at auction) – a real punter’s dram.

At the same time they employ a huge amount of absolutely lovely, helpful, friendly people in an economically deprived area that once was Scotland’s whisky capital.

Yes, Springbank it would be. And since I’d be stranded for a long time, a bottle just wouldn’t do, I’d want a cask. And a valinch! And a bung-opening thingy! The cask could also serve as shelter once drunk or maybe even as a small rescue boat to try and find a way off the island – after the whisky has been enjoyed, of course!