Glen Scotia 15yr 46%

A Campbeltown distillery located roughly 100m from the shores of the Firth of Clyde. If you were to draw a triangle between Islay, the Isle of Arran, and Ballycastle in Northern Island, the distillery sits on one of the lines that's in the dangly peninsula (see the image at the bottom rather than trying to figure it out from my appalling choice of words)

This review is of their core range 15yr whisky that’s come from a combination of refill American oak & refill Bourbon casks that have then been vatted into fresh Bourbon casks. I purchased this particular bottle in mid-2022 and thought I'd better write about it before the glass went into the recycling.

Appearance: Medium amber with flashes of copper. Slow, oily legs.

Nose: Honey and vanilla, followed by a slight balsamic vinegar sourness. A faint whisp of over-ripe banana and some oaky-sawdust are there also. A deeper nosing reveals creamy caramel, some ripe grapes, and a very gentle damp dunnage funkiness that rises up in the background. All the while, everything is wrapped in a soft fruity vanilla-forward haze.

Palate: Sweet & oily with big notes of vanilla followed by warm caramel sauce, chocolate, lots of fruitiness and some roasted nuts. Now the fun starts on the flavour-front for me as that damp dunnage funkiness that I noticed on the nose now comes through in the flavour, and integrates nicely with the honey-sweetness. The gentlest plume of funky smoke (not peated smoke), appears at the end with a warming oily coating.

Finish: Long, sweet & chewy with a gentle peppered caramel finish.

Conclusion: For me, this is a beautiful example of a rich & sweet Bourbon cask-matured whisky that would easily pique the tastebuds of somebody who loves a good sherried whisky. It’s sweet, rich and chewy.

Circa £65-70 (at the time of writing this review)

More about the Glen Scotia distillery here