cascode
Glen Scotia 15 Year
Single Malt — Campbeltown, Scotland
Reviewed
September 26, 2017 (edited July 9, 2022)
Scotland, September 2017. Whisky#13, distillery tasting.
Nose: Earthy malt, faint honey, smoked ham, Airfix glue (!), tinned peaches, sandalwood. The cask influence is lightly aromatic rather than heavily oaky. Adding water brings forth more honey. There is some earthy peat and tobacco and a briny, maritime quality overall.
Palate: Sweet cereal arrival, then a dry ginger and almost effervescent briny tang that is much nicer than it might sound. From the nose I was expecting something heavier on the palate but this is light and sprightly. A dash of water softens and melds it together beautifully (try it with a tiny splash of soda water or sparkling mineral water - so drinkable!).
Finish: Long, mainly cereal with some sneaky, oily smoke threading about and a salty sweet aftertaste. Even a little licorice.
Very smooth and rich but also light of touch. If Springbank 15 is an autumnal afternoon this is a brisk spring morning.
"Very Good" : 85/100 (4 stars)
110.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@cascode it’s so interesting to hear about the variation in these batches, so reliant on stocks of well-aged barrels, as compared to bourbon and it’s plentiful, typically batched approach (where small batch still seems to average well over 200 barrels) and seemingly a bit more (boringly) consistent
Update. I just opened a new bottle of this, and it is the 4th time I've tasted this whisky. I had it first in 2017 at the distillery, then in 2018 from a 50ml distillery bottled sample. The third time was at a tasting evening in Sydney in 2019 and now from a bottle filled in 2021 (lot code L4 076.21). It seems to be quite batch variable (I'd rate the tastes I've had from 83-87/100) but it is also consistently in the mid-80s. I'd rate this current bottle at 85, like my first taste.
Airfix glue! That brought back memories, nice note.