pkingmartin
Glen Scotia 15 Year
Single Malt — Campbeltown, Scotland
Reviewed
April 12, 2022 (edited September 24, 2022)
The nose starts with a mix of lemon lime soda, hay and ocean brine then dark chocolate covered almonds along with seaside rock minerality followed by chamomile tea, grapefruit, gooseberries and vanilla taffy that transitions to ginger, cloves, leather and polished oak with light ethanol burn.
The taste is a thin to medium mouthfeel starting with a mix of lemon lime soda, fresh baked bread and ocean brine then dark chocolate covered almonds along with seaside rock minerality followed by chamomile tea, grapefruit zest, tangerine orange and vanilla custard that transitions to ginger, leather and polished oak with light ethanol burn.
The finish is medium length with soft creamy citrus, sea salt taffy, dark chocolate orange, leather and black tea.
The nose on this is soft and balanced with a mix of citrus, ocean brine, rocky minerality, tea and well aged oak that carries over to the taste with the fruits being far less sour than the nose and the flavors expertly balanced before fading into the soft sweet citrus and dark chocolate finish.
This is far better balanced than the 10 year cask strength version but lacks the bold flavors that the 10 year had likely due to the lower ABV that has made the flavors more muted than I'd prefer. It's still a very enjoyable pour and would likely be incredible for those that prefer their drinks at a lower proof than cask strength.
Thanks @ctbeck11 for the generous sample of this one.
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@pkingmartin I first had Victoriana in 2017 and it was one of the last 51.5% batches, just before they increased the abv to 54.2%. Fortunately I have 2 bottles of the earlier bottling stashed away as I prefer it to the later one, although that is still very good.
@cascode I’m going to need to find a sample of the Victoriana to try again. I had it at a whisky festival many years ago and liked it so much that I bought a bottle which quickly vanished. Sadly no tasting notes were taken besides “Damn good”.
The Victoriana can compete with any Springbank, but I have had some pretty ordinary IBs of Glen Scotia, and the older expressions prior to 5 years ago were … not good. I’m far from convinced there is any such thing as a “Campbeltown” regional style anyway. If there is, it’s actually part of a west coast style shared by several other whiskies.
@PBMichiganWolverine You’re right. I can’t think of one I didn’t like so far. It’ll be interesting to see if the 16 is different than this one by just 1 extra year of aging.
@pkingmartin no such thing as a bad Cambeltown whisky…either good, or amazing
It’s a good one. They stand in the shadow of Springbank, but all the Glen Scotias I’ve tried have held their own pretty well.