Scapa Glansa

Scotland, September 2017. Distillery tasting. Nose: Light smoke, fruity and floral notes. An elusive earthy aroma like blue cheese, oak, caramel, vanilla and a maritime presence. The dry glass smells smoky and medicinal. Palate: A blanket of smoke on the delivery. The development has coffee, dark fruit and sweet spices. The texture is good. Finish: Medium. Ashy smoke, spicy and dry with mild fruit notes. When we tried this at the distillery we thought it was very agreeable. We tasted it immediately following Scapa Skirin and it was obviously the same malt profile but with a light layer of peat smoke. The peat smoke did seem a little unusual, however. Not bad, just unusual, and it was not quite the same as the smoke on whisky produced from peated grain. I liked it enough to find a bottle when we returned to Australia but sadly it was rubbish and nothing at all like the distillery tasting. I can only assume it was a bad bottle (loose cork or something) as it had virtually no nose or palate - it was like a whisky that had been diluted with neutral spirit. I'm basing the rating here on the distillery tasting. "Good" : 83/100 (3 stars)

7/10, sweet caramel with smoke only on the finish. high expectations, slightly disappointed

Sweet aroma on the nose, with a hint of vanilla. Malt, spicy and sweet on the tongue. Hot finish