Glen Scotia Exclusive Cask 7 Years Old 2015

An official release of Glen Scotia, a 7 year old, from 2015, cask 23/390-8, at 56.1%, 231 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a Campbeltown single malt from a town once called the whisky capital of the world. It sits on High Street in Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula on the west coast.

The spirit was worked through the stills for an oily, coastal make, building the Campbeltown Glen Scotia style. It was matured in a Rum cask, the wood working into the oily malt. In these extractive early years the oak gives vanillin as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over a briny, oily spirit. The oily, coastal spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and brine to the fore. A former owner, Duncan MacCallum, drowned in the loch that fed the distillery, and is said to haunt it. Its Victoriana and single cask releases have won the distillery wide acclaim.

At 56.1%, undiluted, it is deep and briny. Salt, citrus and a soft toffee, with a soft brown sugar and a tropical fruit from the cask. Soft citrus and a salted oil sit behind the cask. Citrus, salt and a soft oak see out the finish. This is Glen Scotia, a survivor of the old whisky capital.