Glen Scotia The Classic Series No.1 8 Years Old 2017 (55.8%)

Glen Scotia from the distillery, an 8 year old, from 2017, cask 24/498-2, at 55.8%, 242 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a maritime Campbeltown malt, one of the last three of a town that once held thirty. The Glen was added to the Scotia name around 1930, the distillery dating to 1832.

Drawn off the stills after a long ferment for a fruity, briny spirit, for an oily spirit with a coastal, salted edge. Finished in a Pedro Ximenez cask, the wood building over the oily, coastal spirit. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the spirit fresh, oily and coastal. The slow distillation and shell and tube condensers give the oily Glen Scotia body. Active wood frames the fruit without overwhelming the briny Campbeltown 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.

At cask strength 55.8% it is full bodied. Baked apple, brine and a creamy oil, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. Citrus, brine and a salted toffee fill the middle. A briny finish ends on citrus and a soft oak. This is a Campbeltown single malt of real character.