Glen Scotia 46 Years Old

Glen Scotia from the distillery, a 46 year old, from 1974, at 41.7%, 150 bottles in all. Glen Scotia, founded in 1832, is one of the three surviving Campbeltown distilleries. It was founded in 1832 as Scotia, one of the survivors of Campbeltown's Victorian whisky boom.

The spirit was distilled slowly in a single pair of stills for an oily, coastal make, for a briny, oily make of salt, citrus and a salted toffee. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working into the oily malt. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and a salted oil linger. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Years in oak round the spirit, the brine and citrus deepening to a salted toffee. It sits on High Street in Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula on the west coast.

Bottled at a cask strength 41.7%, it is rich. Sea salt, oil and a salted toffee, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Citrus, brine and a salted toffee fill the middle. The close is oily and salted, fruit over a gentle oak. This is a maritime Campbeltown single malt.