Glen Scotia 12 Years Old (40%)

A 12 year old Glen Scotia, a distillery bottling, at 40%. Glen Scotia is a coastal, briny Campbeltown malt, founded in 1832 on the Kintyre peninsula. Its long ferment, averaging well over a hundred hours, builds a fruity, coastal character.

Made on Crosshill Loch water in the heart of Campbeltown, for an oily spirit with a coastal, salted edge. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending vanilla and a little coconut. Integration folds eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) into the malt, the body oilier and the salt softer. Long ageing turns the fresh citrus towards dried fruit, salted toffee and a soft spice. A former owner, Duncan MacCallum, drowned in the loch that fed the distillery, and is said to haunt it. Years in oak round the spirit, the brine and citrus deepening to a salted toffee. Its malt comes from Greencore Maltings in southwest Scotland.

Reduced to 40%, it is mellow. Sea salt, oil and a salted toffee, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Soft citrus and a salted oil sit behind the cask. The close is oily and salted, fruit over a gentle oak. This is one of the last three Campbeltown malts.