Glen Scotia 33 Years Old 1991 Cask #8 (Murray McDavid)

From the bottler Murray McDavid, a 33 year old Glen Scotia, distilled in 1991, from cask 8, bottled at 49.7%, one of 167 bottles. Glen Scotia is a coastal Campbeltown malt sitting between heavier Springbank and lighter Glengyle. It has been owned by the Loch Lomond Group since the 1990s, after many changes of hands.

The spirit was distilled slow for the salty, oily Glen Scotia style, building the Campbeltown Glen Scotia style. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the gentle American oak letting the briny make lead. In its ethereal years the malt is waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a touch of sotolon (maple, dried fig). The Campbeltown style is oily and salted, the cask deepening it over the years. Campbeltown, the Wee Toon, once held some thirty distilleries and was the whisky capital of the world. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace.

At its natural 49.7% it is concentrated. A coastal, oily sweetness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and coating, the fruit lifted by vanilla. The finish is long, oily and salted. This is the oily, salted malt of the Wee Toon.