Glen Scotia 15 Years Old 1992 The MacPhail’s (G&M)

A 15 year old Glen Scotia from the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, distilled in 1992, bottled at 43%. Glen Scotia is a coastal, briny Campbeltown malt, founded in 1832 on the Kintyre peninsula. It runs a single pair of stills and shell and tube condensers for a slow, oily make.

The spirit was drawn off the stills after a long ferment for a fruity, briny spirit, for an oily spirit with a coastal, salted edge. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending vanilla and a little coconut. At oxidative maturity vanillin and lactones are fully expressed, the salty, oily malt deepening. The slow distillation and shell and tube condensers give the oily Glen Scotia body. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace. The cool, salt laden Campbeltown air gives a slow, coastal maturation in the warehouses. The Campbeltown style is oily and salted, the cask deepening it over the years.

At an approachable 43% it is soft and coastal. Citrus, salt and a soft vanilla, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and coating, the fruit lifted by vanilla. The finish runs long, oily and coastal. This is an oily, coastal malt from the Kintyre coast.