Glen Scotia 20 Years Old 1991 Cask #1049 (Signatory)

This Glen Scotia was bottled by the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, a 20 year old, distilled in 1991, from cask 1049, bottled at 43%, one of 407 bottles. Glen Scotia, founded in 1832, is one of the three surviving Campbeltown distilleries. Its water is drawn from Crosshill Loch above the town.

Distilled slowly in a single pair of stills for an oily, coastal make, for the salty, oily make Glen Scotia is known for. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut from the lactones. Into oxidative maturity, slow air ingress builds fruity ethyl esters (citrus and apple) and a briny, salted depth. The oily, coastal spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and brine to the fore. The cool, salt laden Campbeltown air gives a slow, coastal maturation in the warehouses. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace. It has been owned by the Loch Lomond Group since the 1990s, after many changes of hands.

At 43% it is smooth and oily. A briny, oily coastal fruit, 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 an oily, coastal malt from the Kintyre coast.