Glen Scotia 2022 Campbeltown Festival Edition
Official Bottling| 56.5% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good Stuff.
TL;DR
Another potently enjoyable Campbeltown dram that delivers
Glen Scotia Could’ve Gone Big With The Price Of This, And They Didn’t
The landscape for whisky buyers is shifting constantly - release after release, we’re bombarded with new amber stuff to lust after and, convincing yourself you don’t need any more whisky, you simultaneously tap in the card details and click “buy”. It’s hard to resist that next flavour opportunity, but I’ve been really good recently… if recently is restricted to the past month. Although, thinking about it now, I did buy some Ardnamurchan Cask Strength in April, and a bottle of GlenDronach 12 for a side-by-side. Oh and I also bought a Lindores “The Casks of Lindores” STR release last week. Maybe I’ve not been so good after all.
At the same time, the landscape for whisky producers is also shifting constantly - repositioning of age-stated releases to higher price brackets, ushering in new, younger whiskies into that pricing void, is happening all the time now. With the emergence of new distilleries punting incredible, youthful whisky that’s transcending age in smell, taste and value, it’s no wonder the “auldies” are now starting to redress their portfolios and make room for younger stuff to be released. Someone has to challenge the young ‘uns for that pricing sector. After all, why give away 10, 12 or even 15 year old whiskies for the same price as a four or five year old whisky from the newbies? It makes total business sense, despite pissing off people who held those particular, recently hiked bottlings as their go-to, remarkably affordable, daily drams. Such is life.
Regardless, I’ve been a bit of a fan of Glen Scotia for a while now, mainly because I was exposed to them at the point at which Springbank was becoming a bit of a myth. I bought the now price-hiked 15 year old in 2021 and then shortly afterwards the Victoriana, which I just love to bits. After those two, I managed to grab a bottle of the Callander Drinks Co. single-cask bottling which was, and remains, my unicorn whisky - ultimate decadence and stupendous flavour. Incidentally, I took the last few drams of the bottle and stuck them in wee sample bottles for posterity, and I picked one up the other day to look at it (because I have no hobbies other than whisky staring) and it was stuffed full of wee cask floaters. Chill-filtered, or even filtered at all, it certainly was not.
“Traditionally the stills at Glen Scotia were left unpolished to keep them cooler, and the proximity of the Gulf Stream means that maintaining a supply of cold water for distilling has frequently been a problem.”
More recently I purchased a bottle of the Glen Scotia 12 seasonal release - a limited-edition Christmas launch that I jumped on to purchase for FOMO, but feel a bit silly now because it’s still available to buy. In retrospect, it looks like the 12 year old didn’t land so well with the whisky buying public. Costing a not-inexpensive £70 and exhibiting an unfortunate guilty-by-association connection to the previous seasonal release - an 11 year old sherry double-cask finish released in 2020 has been likened to mouldy cheese, vomit and toilet cleaner (I’ve never tried it, so can’t testify to these claims) - the fact, and the availability, remains; Seasonal releases from Glen Scotia are approached tentatively.
However this bottle, fresh for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2022, is not a seasonal release, but a festival release, and those suckers have a tremendous reputation. The 2018 ruby port finished bottle has superfans chasing them around the auction sites, and 2020’s ruby port bottling is as near as dammit the same. Last year they released a Bordeaux finished bottle which was met with big smiles, but is not as fervently spoken of like the other porty offerings.
This year Glen Scotia have released a different take on their previous festival editions, opting for a heavily-peated spirit, all decanted into first-fill bourbon barrels for seven years, with a subsequent 12-month finish in PX sherry casks totalling a maturation of eight whole years. In the land of age statements, this single-digit offering should have those giddy for numerals on labels foaming at the mouth. Ardbeg’s Wee Beastie at five years old, Lagavulin’s sensational eight year old and the Kilkerran 8 are among other single digit age-stated whiskies I’ve tried, and all were hammer-blow beauties. My expectations for this Campbeltown release therefore, were pretty high. This release features yet another new bottle design - a new label layout with larger “Glen Scotia” presence on an taller label and, weirdly, a shorter-than-usual bottle height with new moulded motifs. It seems that continuity is not a concern for Glen Scotia and I like that they’re putting new things out in both spirit and design for each release. I’ll take it over the unchanging, rudimentary appearance from the other Campbeltown folks, despite my clear stipulation of the only thing of importance being the liquid itself.
Review
Limited Edition 8 Year Old, 2013, 56.5%, non-chill filtered, natural colour
£55, Limited Edition of 24,000 bottles. Available widely
I placed an order for a bottle within minutes of the email arriving, yet again because of FOMO - what is it about whisky launches that makes the little missing-out-monster rear its ugly head? Given the love for the other festival bottlings, I didn’t want to miss the chance at trying one of these, and at £55 it certainly felt like they’d fly off the shelves - two weeks later and they’re still available. I need to stop this madness. The price of this festival release makes a little more sense as to why Glen Scotia lifted the price of the 15 to £65 - they couldn’t have priced this festival 8yo as it is, if an older by seven years whisky was available for less. Looking around at other single-digit age stated whisky, I see that Ardbeg have the Wee Beastie at £33.75, the Lagavulin 8 at £55 and the Kilkerran 8 at £4,000… jest aside, if you could get an RRP bottle of it, £53 would’ve been the price, so the Glen Scotia is sitting in pretty comparable company. I don’t really care about how it compares in price in reality, for I want to know how it compares in flavour.
Nose
Clay and a little bit of ash. Big cinder toffee notes which makes me giddy - I adore that teeth-ruining stuff. Light florals and parma violets. Recently-vacated gym hall in high school. An earthy quality - damp soil. Malty. Fish n’ chip shop smell lingering on the street - there’s a maritime whiff at the back end. Forest stream points to a minerality in the background too.
I poured a Springbank 10 beside this and the Springbank is a lot more tropical, like chewy fruit salad sweets. The Glen Scotia 8 is how I thought Springbank 10 tasted until I poured it. The Glen Scotia is far more dark and damp, dirty and oily.
Palate
Musty Glen Scotia signature. Creamy oil paints and salty caramel. Almost as decadent as the Callander Drinks Co special. Big peppery entrance, smoked toffee and salty seaside-whipped candyfloss. Pencil shavings. Sweet smoked fish - earthy smoke, not woody smoke. Past the neck, it’s exhibiting hugely powerful, big waves of heat. There’s a nice smokey finish, tasting more earthy, dirty, peaty this time. Still sweet and medicinal, like an old varnish.
With water: The heat is tamed and the peat is a bit more pronounced. Natural yoghurt edge with toffee sprinkles. Tropical notes. Permanent marker sniff. Peppery. Cola.
The Dregs
I’ve spoken of my love for Victoriana, and I reminisce of the Callander Drinks Co. special quite often, because it was just bucket loads of flavour bursting from every orifice. This new release feels more in that flavour vein than it does the 15 or 12 year old seasonal release, which are a bit more “clean” in presentation. Don’t get me wrong, the Seasonal 12 year old is an exercise in dousing out the intense flames of heat from the liquid caramel fire you are immediately immersed in, but it doesn’t have the dampness - the murky density - of the Victoriana or this youthful beauty. I love that this is following the Victoriana and I love the use of peated spirit, because the further I get down the bottle, the more pronounced the peat becomes. Yet it’s not a peat hit like an Ardbeg or Lagavulin, more of a flavour component contributing to a balanced smokey sweet dram. A peat monster this is not - almost like the peat component in Ardnamurchan that’s there to bolster the depth of flavour, rather than demand all the limelight.
A few people have stated that the Glen Scotia 8 year old festival release is up there with the best of what Glen Scotia have to offer, and I tend to agree - it’s powerful, potently decadent stuff and knowing how much I love the Victoriana, I’m delighted this new release is following that path. Is it as good as the Victoriana in terms of smell and taste? No it’s not - there’s something not quite as deep, or as resonant in this younger presentation and, despite being £10 cheaper, I still feel the Victoriana trumps it - you get more smell and more taste for not that much more money.
A very good dram however, and worthy of the £55 price asked of it. I’m really glad Glen Scotia didn’t price this higher - it’s a delicious whisky and, at this price, instantly recommendable. I understand the reasons for their pricing restructure, and I know it’s becoming more common now for the established entities to be hiking without regard. Glen Scotia are not entirely innocent of hiking - we can only assume that they’re restructuring to release more things in future that we’re not aware of yet, like a 21 year old perhaps. But luckily for us, this wee youthful festival release is a good one, firmly in the sweet spot of whisky experience versus price demanded, and I’ve really enjoyed spending time with it.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DC
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