Glen Scotia Victoriana (51.5%)

Glen Scotia from the distillery, at 51.5%. Glen Scotia is a coastal Campbeltown malt, here in its peated form, smoke laid over the brine. It sits on High Street in Campbeltown, on the Kintyre peninsula on the west coast.

The spirit was distilled slow from peated malt in the Glen Scotia style, building the peated Glen Scotia style. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the gentle American oak letting the briny make lead. With no age statement, the oak has given vanillin as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over the smoky, salty spirit. The cool, salt laden Campbeltown air gives a slow, coastal maturation in the warehouses. It runs a single pair of stills and shell and tube condensers for a slow, oily make. Maturation in the Campbeltown warehouses, by the sea, lends a coastal edge. A long ferment gives a fruity make that ages with a coastal, oily grace. Its water is drawn from Crosshill Loch above the town.

Bottled at a cask strength 51.5%, it is rich. Peat, sea salt and a salted toffee, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Peat, brine and a salted toffee fill the middle. The finish is long, smoky and salted. This is Glen Scotia's peated, briny Campbeltown style.