Glen Scotia The Classic Series No.1 8 Years Old 2017

An official release of Glen Scotia, an 8 year old, from 2017, cask 24/503-4, at 57.5%, 227 bottles in all. Glen Scotia is a Campbeltown single malt from the Loch Lomond Group, salty and oily in style. The Glen was added to the Scotia name around 1930, the distillery dating to 1832.

Distilled slowly in a single pair of stills for an oily, coastal make, building a maritime character of sea salt and oil. Finished in a Red Wine 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. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace. It sits on High Street in Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula on the west coast. Maturation in the Campbeltown warehouses, by the sea, lends a coastal edge. Its water is drawn from Crosshill Loch above the town.

At cask strength 57.5% it is full bodied. A coastal, oily sweetness, with red berry and a dry spice from the cask. Soft citrus and a salted oil sit behind the cask. The close is oily and salted, fruit over a gentle oak. This is Glen Scotia, a survivor of the old whisky capital.