Glen Scotia 12 Years Old (54.1%)

Glen Scotia from the distillery, a 12 year old, at 54.1%. Glen Scotia is a Campbeltown single malt known for sea salt, oil and a salted toffee. It sits on High Street in Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula on the west coast.

The spirit was run through the stills and shell and tube condensers on Crosshill Loch water, building a maritime character of sea salt and oil. Maturation came in a Palo Cortado cask, layered over the briny Glen Scotia make. 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. It was founded in 1832 as Scotia, one of the survivors of Campbeltown's Victorian whisky boom. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. It has been owned by the Loch Lomond Group since the 1990s, after many changes of hands.

At 54.1%, undiluted, it is deep and briny. Sea salt, citrus and a salted toffee, with a dry, nutty, savoury depth from the cask. The texture is oily and coating, the fruit lifted by vanilla. A briny finish ends on citrus and a soft oak. This is Glen Scotia, a survivor of the old whisky capital.