Glen Scotia 18 Year

Nose: Initially spicy with galangal and tumeric, clove and anise. Lemon juice and zest slowly appear together with pears and a little vanilla. Light grassy and faint oak aromas float in the background and the longer you nose it the more you become aware of a flinty, mineral maritime quality - it's like the smell of a clean pebble beach just as the tide is ebbing, and it dominates the nose for a while. Give it a little longer and polished wood and bitter orange notes move to the front. Adding water brings out a more toffee-malt character, which is also the dominant dry-glass aroma. Palate: Sweet and savory arrival - salted honey with some brisk hot spice. The development shows waves of alternating spice, heat and sweetness which is quite singular. Dark honey, bitter cacao, and red peppercorns. After a couple of tastes, as the palate becomes accustomed, the complexity is identified as briny in nature with an overlay of herbal sweetness. This facet reminds me a little of Ricola Swiss herbal lozanges. Adding water smoothes out the ripples in the development. The texture is nothing outstanding. Finish: Medium. Spiced honey notes fade away into a slightly saline malt aftertaste, reminiscent of salted toffee and bitter coffee. It's a good malt but takes time to settle and compose in the glass. It also has a complex and "interesting" character that is not immediately approachable so it's not one I'd recommend to beginners. If it seems overly hot, spicy or bitter you have not waited long enough. Give this at least half an hour in a covered glass before tasting. Water makes only a small difference to either the nose or palate, adding just a little sweetness. 46% abv is a good strength for this so if you want to open it I'd add just a couple of drops of water right at the start. I'd be really interested to taste this at 60% abv with a teaspoon or two of water added. There's been several Glen Scotia 18 expressions since 2012 when the new OB range was introduced and they vary quite a bit in strength. The main ones you'll find are the old "blue bull" bottling and the more recent and current "classic Campbeltown" which looks like the photo that appears on this listing. These are both 46% abv but they really should have separate listings as they are completely different in character. The expression I'm tasting is from 2017 and while there is a common profile to all the recent "classic" bottlings it is batch-variable. This is one of the better ones I've had. The more recent examples are softer, more fruity and easier to approach but arguably less interesting. Tasted from a 30ml sample. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

The nose starts with key lime pie, burnt hay bales, light ocean brine and chocolate covered raisins then freshly lit pipe tobacco along with seaside rock minerality followed by chamomile tea, white grape juice, apricots and persimmons that transitions to ginger, cloves, black pepper, and polished oak with light ethanol burn. The taste is a medium mouthfeel starting with slightly soured but creamy tropical fruits before a mild pepper spice that quickly fades to charred lemon, key lime pie, burning bales of hay, and light ocean brine then dark chocolate covered raisins followed by chamomile tea, white grape juice, apricots and persimmons that transitions to ginger, cloves, black pepper, and a mild ashy oak spice with medium ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with burnt hay bales, soft creamy tropical fruits, sea salt taffy, spicy dark chocolate mocha, prunes and polished oak. Overall, this is an excellent dram with the typical Glen Scotia DNA of citrus, farmyard, ocean brine, rocky minerality, and tea that the 18 years of aging has managed to turn those sour fruits found on the younger expressions to sweet and creamy with the addition of polished oak. At a price of $120+ a bottle, I think this is well worth the price and it can even compete against the 25 year that costs $400+. The 18 year has very similar notes to the 25 year, with a slightly thinner mouthfeel and lack of those dusty-leather bound books, but if you want a well-polished Glen Scotia for under $150, this would be the one I’d recommend.

Wow. Just wow. Glen Scotia is one of those distilleries that i fail to give the attention it deserves. I actually have liked everything i tasted from them, and i was excited to grab this 18yo expression, but i had it sitting in my home bar... till now. Bottled at 46%abv, it has a deep golden color. On the nose, completely overwhelming. Chocolate bathed raisins, red berries, red fruits, caramel and toffee. Everything is very well delivered. After the first sip, it gave me coffee notes and this thick Ferrero Rocher cream. And then... boom! The greatest sweet plum aroma i have ever perceived in a whisky. On the palate it has 4 notes, and they are just perfect. Hazelnut, chocolate bathed almonds; chocolate itself and a creamy vanilla/ marshmallow note. Fantastic. Aftertaste, is where the peatiness appeared with the great notes of dark chocolate. It has a crazy smokiness mixed with angels and raw beautifulness. Amazing, super rewarding finish. Overall, this is perfection in a bottle. Even if i can tell you that it is not overly complex, the aroma and flavor notes it has are very clean, very enjoyable and elegant. I am not the fondest fan of 18yo whiskies, but this is a spectacular dram. My score for it, if you haven't guess it already, is 100 over 100.  Man, that was good!!!

So found this for about 69 bucks locally and well at that price, I'm in! Oddly this one has gotten some negative thoughts so lets figure out why. Nose - a clear sherry fruit note giving me some fairly straight forward raisins and plumbs. There's a distinct campbeltown note, bringing me back to my first SB 12 with BBQ sauce and what I think of as a bit of a baby diaper note, oddly pleasant but weird and off among most scotches. I however see this as a sign of quality funk. There's a lot of stiff dried oak in here, a bit more than expected. I suspect a lot of tired casks in those first 17years before very nice sherry casks were used to clean it up. Rounding it out I get a drop of lemon, a bit of baking spice and perhaps a touch of vanilla. Taste - Opens sweet but non-distinct, then turns up cookies and baking spices, HEAVY oak, and then finishes with sherry goodness from fruits and chocolates. That funk is all over this one, it's super funky. Really interesting how the flavors start light and just build and build in the mouth. I'm more than pleased and I'd rather have this than the 15 or victoriana. That said I"m scoring it the same as the latter at 3.5. This is a funky lovers 18 year.

As I like Springbank a lot I was told to check other Campletown expressions too. So I got another sample of a Glen Scotia. This time an older one. This one is quiet intense and rich. Lots of florals and vanilla. Underneath a syrupy sweetness there is a bid of mineral beach sand and dry grass quality but not as convincing as I was hoping. The palate is as sweet as anticipated. Cherry and chocolate which is really nice. But the finish is what was the most interesting. Like dry tobacco leaves from a good cigar and a mossy wood. Afterwards you get a good bunch of smoke and a buttery bitterness. Not bad at all and indeed interesting but not as smooth as I thought it would be. It definitely has a kick and a noticeable alcoholic burn and a very long lightly bitter finish.

Nose: very light and delicate, orange and lemon, ginger, vanilla from bourbon barrels. Palate: orange and lemon, vanilla, but also red fruit and honey, very spicy. Final: short and sour, the worst part of the tasting. A whisky that is certainly valid and of high quality, but ruined by a finish that is not up to par. Rating 4.25 ____________________________________________________________ Naso: molto leggero e delicato, arancio e limone, ginger, vaniglia dalle botti di bourbon. Palato: arancia e limone, vaniglia, ma anche frutta rossa e miele, molto speziato. Finale: breve ed acidulo, la parte peggiore della degustazione. Un whisky sicuramente valido e di alta qualità, rovinato però da un finale non all’altezza. Voto 4,25