At first Ainsley wasn’t too enamoured with the ‘hype’ around Springbank’s Local Barley releases. It took 2025’s 8yo with heritage grain to switch all the lights on. It’s finally found him.

Drummond takes a deep dive; what is Bere Barley and why are Bruichladdich using it? He then sips it against his 2014 Islay Barley to see if it’s worth the extra cash. Interesting indeed.

Mindful of taking time out for the little things such as a nice dram, but for also the bigger things in life like looking after ourselves, Hamish sinks into the 2012 Bere Barley edition from Bruichladdich.