Tasting three middle-aged Glen Scotia

April 18, 2013

Tasting three middle-aged Glen Scotia

There’s always something happening with Glen Scotia…

Glen Scotia 18 yo (46%, OB, +/-2013)

Colour: straw. Nose: Glen Scotia’s usual very porridgy profile is very obvious at first nosing, I’d even say this is pretty yeasty if not simply feinty. Goes on with more dairy cream and touches of honey and vanilla, before it really improves with more notes of oranges and pollen – and less yeasty notes. Now, it remains a little beerish if I may say so. Grassy. Mouth: simple, a notch spirity, with overripe apples, a little ginger, marmalade and then notes of quickly-distilled eaux-de-vie. Sweets. Becomes rather burnt and a little dirty, and then oddly bubblegumy. Finish: short, rather burnt again. Green pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: I’m not 100% sure this is worth more than €80 because I think the roar isn’t on par with the new look, if I may say so. I liked the similarly revamped new Inchmurrin 18 much better. SGP:441 - 72 points.

Glen Scotia 20 yo 1991/2012 (44.2%, Wilson & Morgan, Barrel Selection, sherry butt, cask #1)

Cask #1!!! Colour: dark gold. Nose: other territories, another world, or rather another planet. It’s much more complex and rounded at the same time, cleaner as well, smokier, more… emphatic? Some nectar, honeydew, tarte tatin, crème brulée (while we’re using French), then raisins from the sherry, figs… The sherry is rather discreet, it’s all perfectly balanced and kind of soft. Wonderful. After fifteen minutes: a little tobacco and dry sherry. Mouth: excellent, it’s not unlike an old cognac of high quality! Bags of raisins and then prunes, with various spices from the wood while it never becomes pervasive or two heavy. Finish: medium, clean and more honeyed. More cinnamon and straight oak in the aftertaste. Comments: independent fillings of Glen Scotia have always been much nicer than the officials (whatever next!) in my experience, and I believe this W&M is among the pick of the bunch. SGP:542 - 88 points.

Glen Scotia 21 yo 1991/2013 (46%, Signatory for Waldhaus am See, cask #1047, 297 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: we’re a bit between both previous ones, well, closer to the W&M actually but with less sherry and less oak. It remains clean, grassy, a little mineral, with muesli rather than porridge and no feinty/yeasty side. Good, a very tiny feinty/yeasty side. Also notes of agave and a little charcoal smoke. Mouth: it’s got the W&M’s fullness but yet again, it’s a rather grassier, more austere spirit. A good example of what a good or more active sherry cask can do - or not do, in this case, since the spirits themselves are very similar. Finish: medium long, with a little more lemon and more bitter notes, grass… Comments: very fine, it’s always interesting to try a rather naked whisky, that tells you more about the distillate and its style. SGP:352 - 84 points.

Check the index of all Glen Scotia I've tasted so far