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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 14: Glen Scotia Double Cask

Posted on December 14, 2021

by Evan

Door Fourteen is upon us, so let's hop on board a transcontinental flight and head from yesterday's stop in Louisville, Kentucky and return to Scotland. This time we are heading to Campbeltown for the Glen Scotia Double Cask!

As I have said half in jest at a few Scotch Malt Whisky Society Tastings previously: Glen Scotia is easily one of the top three operating distilleries in Campbeltown. When it comes to The Wee Toon, it is typically Springbank Distillery that gets all of the love from whisky aficionados. It is easy to see why - Springbank is a grungy Victorian throwback in look and feel. It is an anachronism - a distillery out of time and out of step with modern life - just as some say Campbeltown itself is. Springbank is rustic, dilapidated, inconsistent, and often impossible to find bottles from nowadays. And it is all the more loved because of that. 

To make matters worse, Springbank whisky is getting impossible to keep on the shelves right now due to very little stock reaching our province, which is creating a perpetual FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) around the brand.

It can be easy to forget that Campbeltown is home to three operating distilleries. Besides Springbank, there is also Glengyle. More important than that though is Glen Scotia Distillery. Like its Campbeltown cohort Springbank, the Glen Scotia Distillery itself is chock-full of grimy, Victorian, and industrial character in all of the right ways.



In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, back when Campbeltown was a more busy, industry-driven place with a bustling fishing port, Glen Scotia had much closer neighbouring distilleries. They abutted Glen Scotia Distillery itself - sitting just on the other sides of the walls that encase its lot. At this time, the story goes, Campbeltown had more distilleries than churches which themselves numbered more than thirty. Boom times eventually went bust, and for quite a while only two distilleries remained in the town, though that could have been considered one and a half for how little Glen Scotia operated in the early 2000s.

Thankfully Glen Scotia has risen from the ashes over the past decade and a half thanks to investment by the owners and excellent management by the head of production Iain McAlister and the awesome team working with him. Like the distillery itself, Glen Scotia as a brand has been getting a lot more deserved love and acclaim from critics and consumers alike. I fall into this category as well, as Glen Scotia's whisky has made up some of my favourite drams over the past three or four years.

Glen Scotia Distillery just so happens to be owned by the Loch Lomond Group, who has also managed to create a resurgence in that distillery and brand as of late. Glen Scotia itself has a fairly robust lineup of five core releases at the moment, including the Double CaskVictoriana15-Year-Old, plus the harder to find 18 Year Old and 25 Year Old.

Glen Scotia Double Cask - 46%

This entry-level release in Glen Scotia's range is bottled at 46%. Matured in American oak some of the whisky is finished in Pedro Ximenez Sherry and the rest in First Fill Bourbon. Bottled at 46%.

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Old pennies, Salt and soot with orange rind, grilled pineapple, apple cider, soy sauce, black pepper, and light barbecue sauce.

Palate: Oily and salty peanuts, tapioca pudding with raisins, slightly burnt marshmallows, honeydew melon, tinned peach slices, lychee, and shortbread. 

Finish: The salt and soot exit the stage and leave the fruit and confectionary notes for the encore.

Comment: A fun dram that shows exactly what Glen Scotia is all about, and why we should be paying more attention to their range.

I believe this makes it at least four KWM Calendars with a Glen Scotia in them. If it were up to me we would make sure to put at least one mini from the distillery in every year, but sadly I think this is the last of the mini bottle range that they produce. Hopefully, they will add another bottle to the lineup in time for next year!

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool

This entry was posted in Whisky, Tastings, Whisky Calendars, KWM Whisky Calendar 2021

 

 

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