I don't hide the fact that Glen Scotia is my favourite whisky, it knocked my previous favourite, Glenfarclas, from the top spot when I tried my first whisky from the Kintyre distillery, a 2018 Campbeltown Malt Festival Release, the 2008 Vintage Peated Ruby Port finish. I instantly fell in love, I shared the freshly opened bottle with my brother and distinctly remembered wondering, 'Where did the salt come from?' at that time in my whisky journey, I had not noticed salt in whisky.
Since that day in 2019, I put Glen Scotia as the distillery I most wanted to visit.
Today, I have more bottles of Glen Scotia than from any other distillery. So when in February of this year it was revealed to me that my friend John, his wife and my wife had secretly arranged for me to go with John on a four-night stay in Campbeltown I was over the moon.
The months seemed to tick by slower than normal, but eventually, mid-September was upon us and our 300-mile drive from Tyneside was underway.
We intended to visit the distilleries in Campbeltown and Cadenheads Tasting Room (and other drinking establishments), Glen Scotia was firmly in my mind, so much so, that I booked the dunnage tour months in advance.
On the morning of Tuesday, the 17th of September, we visited Springbank and did the regular tour.
In the afternoon, we did the Glen Scotia Dunnage Tour, costing £55, of which £50 was for the dunnage tasting and £5 for the tour.
The first thing I would like to get out of the way about Glen Scotia is that I was disappointed by the shop. I appreciate it is an old building and space is a premium, rightly assigned to production areas, however, after experiencing what Springbank/Glengyle had to offer the previous morning, especially with 'The Washback Bar', you can't help feeling that maybe a larger shop would be nice. Especially as each time we visited Scotia, it was crowded with visitors, making it difficult to look around. There were also some core range bottles and merchandise out of stock. The latest Icons of Campbeltown release was not available to buy by the time we left, however, it was due to launch on Thursday.
The tour was hosted by Greg. He did a fantastic job guiding us around the site, displaying excellent knowledge of Glen Scotia operations and Campbeltown Whisky history. I am not going to provide any further details of the tour except that it is excellent value and is worth considering the Dunnage tour above the normal tour, you even get to sample some of the new make spirit in the still room.
Once the tour was complete, we finished in the Dunnage warehouse for the tasting.
The following tabs will take you to each whisky we tasted together with my tasting notes:
Filled 2016 - Approx 7/8 Year Old. 60% ABV.
Nose: Fruity and Floral. Caramel Candy Floss (Cotton Candy) and apple. After a while, the brine and maritime character begins to show.
Palate: Apple and floral. Honey, toffee and spice, which includes chilli and black pepper. There is a slight note of salt.
Finish: Honey oak and brine.
With water, the nose shows more of a confectionary note, predominantly caramel. And on the palate, there is more of the Campbeltown Funk of sea salt and maritime notes.
2013 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon then in 2021 reracked into 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Hogshead. 56.8% ABV
Nose: Rich red fruit with a touch of sulphur. Cardamom, treacle toffee and liquorice root. Slowly raisin and sultana make themselves known with salt appearing at the end.
Palate: Salty and rich dark fruit with bitter spices. Polished wood and treacle toffee. No sulphur could be found on the palate.
Finish: Old oak and spice.
With water, the nose starts to show more of the Campbeltown funk with maritime brine and more spice.
On the palate, the water brings out a dunnage note, and the dark fruits reveal a rich transition to Christmas cake.
2016 8 Year Old 2nd fill Ex- Pedro Ximenez. 59.9% ABV
Nose: Rubber (Sulphur), dark red fruit and red liquorice sticks. Spice and herbs. A musty grape skin. Thankfully the sulphurous note of rubber dissipates very quickly.
Palate: Slightly rubber. Spice-topped fruit pie with cream. Salty caramel with milk chocolate. Lingering vegetal note.
Finish: Oak and chilli pepper.
2001 1st Fill Ex-bourbon then reracked in 2019 into 1st fill Ex-Bordeaux Red Wine 56.1% ABV 22/23 Year Old Approx
Nose: Rich jammy red fruit mainly redcurrant and blackberry. A touch of sulphur. Cardamom and vegetal. A cedar wood note appears at the very end.
Palate: Sweet and dark jammy fruits. Musty with a dry fruit skin note. A touch of sulphur introduces salt. Maple syrup morphs almost into cherry tunes together with the menthol note.
Finish: Oak, spice and lingering cherry menthol.
2016 Heavily Peated Ex-Bourbon (54.8 ppm) 59% ABV.
Nose: Peat with a medicinal almost plasters (bandaid) note. Honey, caramel, cereal and grist. Lemon rind and salt.
Palate: Salty, Lemon and honey drizzle cake. Sweet and Sour sensations, Earthy with a touch of petrichor.
Finish: Salted Oak.
Overall, the whiskies tasted were all sensational, considering they were all technically single cask or at least drawn directly from the final cask, the tour gave you a chance to try some unique tasting opportunities, which, if purchased as part of a tasting pack represent excellent value for money, the location and atmosphere add to the sensation of nose and taste.
My favourite was the 2001 finished in Ex- Ex-Bordeaux Red Wine but that peated that followed was also amazeballs.
A fantastic experience that I look forward to doing again in the future.