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)

There are only two distilleries (right now) in the island of Orkney, in the north of Scotland. One is Highland Park, famous for its viking culture, and the other one is Pernod Ricard's Scapa, a very gentle whisky. This is the review for one of their two core expressions, Glansa. The other one is Skiren which i have reviewed in the past along with the 16yo, which is now discontinued. Bottled at 40%, glansa is the mildly peated version of scapa; On the nose: dim Peat, Heather, Toffee, Almonds and Butterscotch. On the palate: Orange and chocolate. Dulce de leche. Vanilla. And a sweet called melcocha, which is a type of hard taffy that tastes like vanilla and dulce de leche mixed presented in an unbreakable stick that chips your teeth. Aftertaste has Clove, a very gentle peat, some Saltiness and maybe a sweet dim hint from what came of the palate. Short finish. Overall, this is a nice whisky. Good for the price. 82 over 100 is a proper score for it.

Nose: Fruit - peach, apricot, pineapple. Lightly floral, wisps and hints of wood smoke Palate: Tropical fruit, vanilla, salted caramel and light citrus. There’s a light peated smokiness throughout, but not overtly Finish: Long finish. The finish is far more citrus/sour than the palate. There are more smoky, peaty and peppery notes, before edging towards a citrus and spicy (black pepper, chilli and ginger) aftertaste. This is a fruity and lightly smoky dram. The flavours are not completely integrated through the layers, with a completely different experience from the palate than the finish and aftertaste. It’s easy to drink and has a quite a creamy mouthfeel on the palate, which hardens into a sour and spicy finish. Generally OK.

I keep being impressed by Scapa. I'd been dying to try this one for a while, and...well, it was worth ordering a bottle when making my annual purchase of the whisky Advent calendar. This is peated, but not in the traditional sense - it spends time in a finishing cask that previously held heavily peated whisky. The nose is full and fruity - loads of orchard and stone fruits, rounded out with vanilla, a whiff of smoke, and a tiny hint of sea air. The palate enters with a bright, fresh fruitiness with vanilla creme, and then that smoke starts to creep in like fog rolling in off the water. It's very nicely balanced, and the Scapa fruit-vanilla-sea spray profile goes well with the light peat.

I'm a big fan of Scapa Skiren for a subtle balanced whisky, so thought I'd try what they offer in their peated whisky, the Glansa. Again, Scapa provide subtlety and balance. It's got a enjoyable combo of sweetness and smoke (coming from someone who doesn't like the punchy smoke of Laphroaig - if that's for you, then this might be too tame on the peat notes). I compare this to the brilliant balance of Kilkerran 12, although the Glansa isn't quite as complex in flavour - Kilkerran has a bit more to chew on. But the Scapa Glansa is a brilliant light peat whisky for those who want whisky on the borderline of sweet and smoky.

I understand why some find this bottle weird or underwhelming. It's peated, but lightly. It's aged in oak but it isn't as sweet as you might expect. It's only 40% but doesn't go down like it's watered down. In short, I found it deceptively complex and interesting. Honey, heather, short smoke, and oak.