Glen Scotia Dunnage Tasting 23 Years Old 1999

An official release of Glen Scotia, a 23 year old, from 1999, cask 257, at 58.7%, 150 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a maritime Campbeltown malt, one of the last three of a town that once held thirty. A former owner, Duncan MacCallum, drowned in the loch that fed the distillery, and is said to haunt it.

The spirit was distilled slow for the salty, oily Glen Scotia style, for a briny, oily make of salt, citrus and a salted toffee. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending vanilla and a little coconut. In the oxidative, evaporative years concentration brings dried fruit, a salted toffee and a waxy, oily depth. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace. Its malt comes from Greencore Maltings in southwest Scotland. Maturation in the Campbeltown warehouses, by the sea, lends a coastal edge. Campbeltown, the Wee Toon, once held some thirty distilleries and was the whisky capital of the world.

Bottled at a cask strength 58.7%, it is rich. An oily, salted sweetness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. It is oily and briny, the coastal spirit shining through. The close is oily and salted, fruit over a gentle oak. This is Glen Scotia's coastal, briny Campbeltown style.