This smoky Campbeltown whisky bears the name of a distillery that vanished 130 years ago

Monday, 28 September 2026 at 14:43

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Spotting a bottle of Longrow, you wouldn’t expect it to come from the same distillery that makes the famed Springbank whisky. Yet that’s exactly where this smoky single malt is crafted—right in the heart of Campbeltown, Scotland. So why does the label say Longrow? To answer that, we have to go back to a time when Campbeltown was packed with distilleries. Join us for this journey in Whisky Names Explained.

Longrow is Springbank’s heavily peated whisky. That makes it quite different from the spirit that bears the Springbank name. Longrow is double distilled and celebrated for its bold mix of peat smoke, oily texture, and Campbeltown’s signature maritime character.

The first Longrow was distilled at Springbank in 1973. It began as an experiment to prove that a smoky style—mostly associated with Islay—could also be made on the Scottish mainland. But the name Longrow was anything but new.

Taste Longrow Peated for yourself here

Where does the name Longrow come from?

To uncover the story behind the name Longrow, we need to go back almost 150 years earlier. In 1824, the Longrow Distillery was founded in Campbeltown—just a stone’s throw from where today’s Longrow is made.

The old Longrow Distillery was, in fact, Springbank’s immediate neighbor. Springbank itself was licensed a few years later, in 1828, and officially permitted to distill whisky (though it had likely been doing so beforehand).

Longrow wasn’t the only distillery in Campbeltown at the time. In the 19th century, the town grew into a major hub of Scotland’s whisky industry, boasting dozens of distilleries at its peak.

For Longrow, that era eventually ended. The distillery closed its doors in 1896 and disappeared as a whisky producer. Yet the name Longrow never truly left Campbeltown.

The old Longrow lives on at Springbank

When Springbank began experimenting in 1973 with a much more heavily peated whisky, they decided to revive the name of their long-gone neighbor. The new whisky was christened Longrow.

So the name on a modern bottle of Longrow points back to a distillery that hasn’t produced whisky since 1896.

And the link goes a step further. Part of the original Longrow Distillery still stands. Springbank now uses one of the former distillery buildings as its bottling hall.

Buy a bottle of Longrow today and you’re getting whisky distilled at Springbank—carrying a name borrowed from a distillery that once stood right next door.

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But why was that old distillery called Longrow?

We’re not quite done yet. The original Longrow Distillery had to get its name from somewhere, too.

The answer is disarmingly simple. The distillery stood on Longrow Street in Campbeltown. In 19th-century Ordnance Survey records, the street also appears as “Long Row.”

So it seems the distillery simply took its name from the street it was on. And that’s how the name Longrow has traveled a very long road indeed.

From Long Row and Longrow Street in Campbeltown, to a distillery founded in 1824. That distillery closed in 1896, and in 1973 Springbank brought the name back to life. The Longrow distillery may have been shut for 130 years, but its name still graces new bottles of Campbeltown whisky.

FAQ

Where does the name Longrow come from?
The name refers to the former Longrow Distillery in Campbeltown, founded in 1824.
Does Longrow Distillery still exist?
No. The distillery closed in 1896. Today’s Longrow whisky is made at Springbank.
Why does Springbank use the name Longrow?
When Springbank started producing a heavily peated whisky in 1973, they named it after their former neighbor, Longrow Distillery.