Scapa 14 Years Old 2005 (Distillery Labels)

From Gordon & MacPhail comes this Scapa, a 14 year old Orkney malt from 2005 and bottled at 43%. Scapa was founded in 1885 by Macfarlane and Townsend on Orkney's Mainland by Scapa Flow, and it remains one of only two distilleries on Orkney. For decades the malt fed the Ballantine's and Teacher's blends before its single malt fame.

The spirit was run through the only Lomond still left in Scotch and a traditional spirit still, to build a soft, unpeated island character. Maturation came in American oak, with vanilla under the orchard fruit. By this age the creamy spirit rounds into heather honey and ripe orchard fruit. The unpeated make lets the cask and the fruit speak without smoke. Scapa sits a mile from Highland Park, yet makes a wholly unpeated, honeyed malt. Its rare Lomond wash still, plates removed, gives a creamy, oily spirit through heavy copper contact. The distillery looks out over Scapa Flow, the great anchorage of two world wars.

At 43% it is creamy and fruit forward. Creamy honey and ripe pear sit alongside soft vanilla and cream from the cask. A ripe melon and a gentle spice lift it. It closes long, honeyed and creamy. This is the soft Orkney malt by Scapa Flow.