Glen Scotia 10 Year Peated

Some apple, dashes of vanilla, mild tannic oak, brine, lemon peel, and earth. the finish is medium length with a moderate to lighter peatiness, white pepper, and more citrus peel. a little bit lack luster on the peatiness coming from an islay fan but i can see it being a entry into peat as it’s definitely not as rich or robust as an ardbeg or laphroaig.

Review #051 Type: single malt scotch Proof: 46% Comments: aged 10 years, matured in 1st fill bourbon barrels Tasted after: first up Appearance (no score): Pale gold color. Swirling reveals a thick line sticking to the side of the glass, legs are slow to form. Nose: 13/20 Surprisingly herbal, got me thinking of smoldering cooking herbs actually but I can’t quite pinpoint which ones. There’s some fruitiness also though I’m more inclined to say it reminds me of applesauce than fresh apples. Digging deeper I also get some nuttiness and notes of grain cereal. It’s smooth but all over the place. Palate: 15/40 Salt leads the way here, followed by more herbal notes. I may have just discovered the liquid equivalent to a dry rub for chicken! I get dry oak spice also but it’s truthfully very hard to sift past the salt to find a deeper profile. Finish: 31/40 Medium finish. Finally a little redemption for this poor bottle! There’s still salt but now it’s also sooty and smokey and savory. More of that oaky wood influence also which really dries it out. Some orange zest and vanilla are hiding in the background. Ending flavor hints at black pepper and is mildly bitter, as if I’d just chewed and swallowed some walnuts. With Water: A couple drops of water bring out vanilla and caramel apple notes on the nose. The palate is muted substantially (which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion) and I now taste some mild lemon zest as well. The finish is graced by some cinnamon which rounds it out and makes it a bit more complex. Total: 59/100 Final thoughts: I believe this is the first whisky I’ve scored below a 60. I’ve tried to give it time in hopes it would open up more after the neck pour but the flavor profile just doesn’t agree with my palate. Water is its best friend, and that discovery is probably the only reason I have not poured it down the drain. This is my first Glen Scotia, and I’ve often seen reviews by others describing it as having a “Campbeltown Funk” (which is a phrase I don’t like to affiliate with whisky, but I’ll set that aside) so I was disappointed not to find any of those machine, barnyard, or industrial profiles myself which I often affiliate with Springbank. This is a bottle that I immediately moved to my “kill” pile, and a single dram is okay but I don’t ever go back for a second. Price: $80 Would recommend: no Would buy: no Scoring Legend: 96-100: The perfect dram, absolutely exceptional, nectar of the gods, I will savor this bottle and make it last, 5 stars. 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky, 4.75 stars. 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product, 4.5 stars. 80-84: Quite good, very enjoyable to drink, but doesn’t wow me, 4.25 stars. 75-79: Good, enjoyable but ultimately flawed, unlikely to purchase again, 4 stars. 70-74: A solid dram, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it, 3.75 stars. 55-69: Drinkable, 3.5-2.75 stars. Below 55: Suitable for cooking or direct contribution to the kitchen sink drain, 2.5 stars or less.

Rating: 18/23 This is a Drammer's Club pick, with higher ABV (55.6%) than the usual distillery release (46%). N: Quite funky. It's not just smoke - there's some worty grain along with chalky minerals, faint sea spray, and mild apricot. There's a lot more nuance here as well, but it's hard to pick out. My overall impression is that this is nicely aged, but not aged so much that it's lost its original grainy character. P: Full flavor, with an alcohol bite and a big sweetness. The sweetness shows off caramel maltiness with a thorough dusting of apricot and then some floral vanilla. Bits of minerality come out as well here. Light notes from that original wort still make it through too, but they're not vegetal. Well, maybe a tad grassy. They actually add to the profile really nicely. A restrained woody backing with some spices is here as well. Cinnamon, ginger, white pepper. There's a maybe a faint soapy bitterness, but it's not too bad. I'm actually getting very little smoke here. A bit, but honestly you could have convinced me that there wasn't any here. Maybe a hint of blackberry in here as well. F: The grain kind of lingers, along with some flat bitterness, probably from a mix of the grain and the wood. Faint apricot and vanilla sneak in briefly, along with a touch of that caramel maltiness. - Conclusion - This is a really nice dram. It's easy to drink and has an interesting funkiness and nuance. Somebody did a good job picking this age for this barrel. This is pretty competitive with Strathmill 24 (1993) (Cadenhead's) (17/23). This is fuller, but it's less sweet and approachable. The Strathmill has almost a melon fruitiness in comparison. This has more nuance though and maybe a bit less bite. Overall, I'm inclined to give this the win. It isn't massively better, but it's an improvement. I'm thinking an 18 for this, but it could be a 17 or 19. Coming back to the Glen Scotia, I'm liking it better. This is also striking me as a little bit less complex, though with more of a sweet apple flavor. It's reminding me of Westland Peated (15/23) now. I'm looking at more of a 16 or 17 now. I think I'll go with the 17 because that's the part of the range that overlaps with my prior tasting. Thank you @PBMichiganWolverine for sharing this rare bottling!

Nose: Leather, brine, orange blossom, peat Palate: Leather, green peat, mushrooms, white pepper Finish: Brine, peat, wintergreen, mineral

Simple, lightly peated. A different Campbeltown from the Springbanks, in a good way. Nose: Mostly tart fruit, just a little bit of peat and brine. Palate: Tart again but honey sweet, surprisingly faint peat, spice, vanilla Finish: Spicy mineral peat, which seems to grow and linger surprisingly long.

This is a drammers exclusive single barrel that was bottled at 55.6%. The nose starts with light notes of charred lemons and limes, ocean brine, soft vanilla and hay then a mild smoke along with sea side rock minerality and chamomile tea followed by tart apples, gooseberries and grapefruit zest that transitions to pickled ginger and a light oak spice with medium ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with creamy orchard fruit that quickly veers towards a moderate sour and bitter spice that fades to lemon lime sports drink, charred hay bales and light minerality followed by chamomile tea, tart apples, gooseberries and grapefruit zest that transitions to pickled ginger, cloves and a light ashy oak spice with medium ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with mild campfire ash, sour citrus and dark chocolate orange. Overall, this is a good dram that manages to bring in a mix of sour citrus, tea, ocean brine and mild spices, but those sour and bitter flavors are a bit too much for me that throws off the balance. This is the start of a small Glen Scotia series with this being the youngest of them and we'll see how the distillate does with some additional age going forward. A huge thanks to @PBMichiganWolverine for the generous pour.

My particular bottling is a Drammer’s single cask pick, with a higher ABV, but including it here so as not to create another version. Wow…been close to 3 weeks since I had a pour. Been having less and less…god only knows what I’ll do with my 800 bottles… I really liked this one. It might be on par with the Springbank 10, and better than the venerable Talisker 10 or Ardbeg 10. A strong dose of peat, but not in your face Ardbeg style — more like a Springbank style. Lemons, earthy char, brine. The Drammer’s version is a bit pricier than the standard ( I guess bc of the higher ABV), so not sure if the standard is on the same playing field. But this is a no-brainer. Well made, and well picked by Drammers team.

I've been waiting to get hold of a bottle of this ever since I tried a sample two years ago but for some reason it never showed up on the shelves until recently. It's an instant classic: an easy drinking peated whisky that scratches all the right itches. The nose is surprisingly soft but the spirit delivers a crescendo of sweet coastal peat in the mouth that is reminiscent of a young Talisker. It's Skye by way of Campbeltown, a route well worth taking. One of the best new standard releases of the year.