Glen Scotia Exclusive Cask 5 Years Old 2016

Glen Scotia from the distillery, a 5 year old, from 2016, cask 21/756-9, at 58.4%, 279 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a Campbeltown single malt made on Crosshill Loch water in the Wee Toon. It is one of only three working distilleries left in Campbeltown, with Springbank and Glengyle.

The spirit was run through the stills and shell and tube condensers on Crosshill Loch water, for an oily spirit with a coastal, salted edge. It was matured in a Red Wine cask, the wood working into the oily malt. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the spirit fresh, oily and coastal. A gentle maturation suits the oily make, the sea salt and toffee growing with time. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the fruit. Its long ferment, averaging well over a hundred hours, builds a fruity, coastal character.

At 58.4%, undiluted, it is deep and briny. A briny, oily coastal fruit, with red berry and a dry spice from the cask. It is oily and briny, the coastal spirit shining through. The finish is rounded, salted and oily. This is a salty, oily Campbeltown single malt.