North Star Campbeltown Connection 10yo
Blended Malt 2025 Release | 50.7% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
It seems to somehow bring itself down to ‘only good’
Hopping Aboard the Whisky Express
Whisky exploration isn’t a straight line.
It’s a winding track or an exhilarating rollercoaster of discovery. Everyone hits certain milestones; crucial pit stops where the next bottle changes everything. I can’t list them without broad-brushing, but I think most of us can relate to something similar to the following six milestones:
1. The first whisky experience:
Often a blend, often not great quality, perhaps from a relative. It may put you off trying another dram for years. Famous Grouse and Bells put me off wider whisky for decades, let’s not even mention those supermarket own-labels.
2. The Gateway Dram
That sip that changes everything, the one that grabs you by the taste buds and says, “Welcome to the madness”. I risk Dramface banishment by admitting mine was probably Dalmore 18, a number of years ago.
3. The Scatter Gun Phase
The frenzied accumulation. If it exists, you need to try it. Peated monsters, delicate floral lowland drams, sherry bombs, obscure grain whiskies that probably taste like cardboard but hey, you just won’t know for sure - unless you try it.
4. The Rabbit Hole
Welcome to distillery obsession. You’ve found the one. Everything they make is liquid gold. Suddenly, you’re tracking auction prices, stalking single cask releases, and convincing yourself that owning every batch from every year is totally normal behaviour. This I have to admit is Bruichladdich for me, my whisky shelves bear witness to this.
5. A Single Cask Addiction
Standard releases are now too safe, too boring. You want the unicorns—barrel-strength beasts, one-time-only bottlings that feel like you’ve uncovered a secret society. This includes the whisky celebrity releases.
6. The Independent Bottler Revelation
That glorious moment when you realize the real magic isn’t just in the distilleries themselves. It’s in the hands of those fearless bottlers who craft hidden masterpieces, often outshining the originals.
Thereafter, we go full-circle; returning to the beginning with wide eyes and clearer understanding, ready to do it all again. And so we find ourselves back to blends… a moment we never saw coming.
Once dismissed as “meh” cupboard lurkers, suddenly, a new take on blends is demanding attention again. Not just the accidental survivors of late-night indecision, but front-and-centre, legit contenders. Dramface is full of them. Click the ‘blended malt’ tag at the foot of this article to reveal others.
Turns out, whisky journeys aren’t just about chasing what’s new and rare. Sometimes, they’re about revisiting what you thought you’d left behind—only to find fresh greatness in familiar places.
Review
The Campbeltown Connection 10yo, North Star Spirits, Blended malt, 2025 release, 50.7% ABV
£45 and possibly still limited availability
Released to dovetail nicely with the Campbeltown Malts Festival, we’re told this is made up exclusively of Campbeltown whisky. North Star has assembled what appears to be a love letter to the region, starring Springbank and Glen Scotia, with the youngest member of the cast being a respectable 10 years old.
For £45 a bottle, the gamble seems less like high-stakes poker and more like finding a crisp twenty in last winter’s coat pocket - pleasantly surprising and immediately justifiable.
Now, the North Star website? Let’s just say it’s not drowning in detail, but a quick scroll through socials hints at some juicy numbers: whispers of 1994 Springbank and a 25-year-old Glen Scotia—sensational headliners in any whisky lineup. And then there’s the mysterious 10-year-old Campbeltown blend playing a supporting role.
The label lists “Springbank HHD” as well as “Glen Scotia HHD”. Proportions? Who knows. Could the Springbank contribution amount to a single, mischievous teaspoon swirled in for legal loopholes and bragging rights?
And as for Glen Scotia’s older casks—well, let’s just say they don’t always light my fire. They’ve had their moments, but much like inheriting a dubious collection of vinyl records from an eccentric relative, the current owners can only work with what history has given them. Whether this dram makes magic from the mix or just serves as an interesting footnote is still up for debate.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
It seems to somehow bring itself down to ‘only good’
Nose
This one starts really fruity - citrus heavy with a hint of toffee and salt.
Palate
The taste is quite sharp. There is a nice amount of warming on the palate. It’s not as loving as you may get with say Springbank 10, but maybe that’s down to familiarity. There is blood orange with some grapefruit overtones thrown in, a touch of burnt butter and a small amount of dried spice. There is a bit of alcohol burn on the first taste, but it coats your mouth nicely and hangs around giving warmth for quite an extended period.
The official tasting notes are claiming a bit of peat: it could be there for some, but I can’t detect it.
There is nothing to say it has no colour added or to proudly claim a lack of chill filtration. It looks too pale to be coloured - and of course it’s from North Star - but you never do know.
The Dregs
As a big fan of Springbank I was hoping for a Springbank-adjacent delight— a side hustle that pays out in drams rather than disappointment. I approached this bottle with optimism, wondering if it could be a cheeky little sibling to the Springbank core range. And sure, it delivers a solid sip, but it’s not exactly shaking me to the foundations of my whisky-loving soul.
Good though? Absolutely.
Now the label. I like the label, it is funky and different, but is there just too much artistic licence being applied here? And if so, would that therefore hint at some similarly artistic license applied in those hints towards the whisky make up? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
However, Campbeltown has never been connected to the main UK railway network, but it did have a narrow-gauge line which ran to Machrihanish. That line did carry passengers but was built primarily to transport coal from the mines at Machrihanish and, as I understand it, did not have the heft of the steam engine portrayed or the number of grand carriages. I am sure someone more knowledgeable than myself on the narrow-gauge line on the Kintyre peninsula will be along shortly in the comments to correct me if I have this wildly wrong.
Worth grabbing at £45? No argument there. But am I sprinting to secure a second bottle in case of a world shortage? Not so much.
The journey continues.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. CC
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