Campbeltown

Discover Campbeltown

Campbeltown (Gaelic: Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain) is the town near the south tip of Kintyre, the long narrow peninsula of Argyll in the west of Scotland. It's only 80 mi (130 km) from Glasgow as the crow flies, but 180 mi (290 km) by road winding around the many lochs and mountain ranges. Kintyre has inspired two famous songs: the one that isn't by Paul McCartney goes "Campbeltown Loch, I wish you were whisky, I would drink you dry...." Wishful thinking but not for want of industry by the town's distilleries - there used to be 30 in this small place. As with Islay, the isolation was a factor. Barrels of whisky were loaded onto ships for export, duty free; but on dark nights many of them mysteriously found their way back to the mainland cities. By the 21st century only two distilleries remained in Campbeltown, but a change in the law in 2009 encouraged new production.