Glen Scotia The Classic Series No.1 – Heavily Peated 9 Years Old 2016

Glen Scotia from the distillery, a 9 year old, from 2016, cask 1461, at 58.4%, 213 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a smoky Campbeltown single malt, the peat sitting over the coastal spirit. It was founded in 1832 as Scotia, one of the survivors of Campbeltown's Victorian whisky boom.

Distilled slow from peated malt in the Glen Scotia style, giving a peated, coastal Campbeltown spirit. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut from the lactones. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the spirit fresh, oily and coastal. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace. Its Victoriana and single cask releases have won the distillery wide acclaim. Its long ferment, averaging well over a hundred hours, builds a fruity, coastal character. Years in oak round the spirit, the brine and citrus deepening to a salted toffee.

At a hearty 58.4% it carries real weight. A smoky, oily sweetness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Peat, brine and a salted toffee fill the middle. It finishes long, briny and smoky. This is a smoky, maritime Campbeltown single malt.