Glen Scotia 30 Years Old

Glen Scotia from the distillery, a 30 year old, at 47.3%, 120 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a salty, oily Campbeltown malt from the west coast of Scotland. Its long ferment, averaging well over a hundred hours, builds a fruity, coastal character.

The spirit was drawn off the stills after a long ferment for a fruity, briny spirit, for the salty, oily make Glen Scotia is known for. A refill bourbon hogshead held it, keeping the salty, oily character to the fore. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and a salted oil linger. The maritime setting on the Kintyre coast threads salt and brine through the spirit. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Long ageing turns the fresh citrus towards dried fruit, salted toffee and a soft spice. A former owner, Duncan MacCallum, drowned in the loch that fed the distillery, and is said to haunt it.

At 47.3%, undiluted, it is deep and briny. Salt, citrus and a soft toffee, 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 the oily, salted malt of the Wee Toon.