24/05/2018 Campbeltown Festival 2018 (Day 2 -- Part 1) Glen Scotia Dunnage tasting

The casual reader might notice there is no account of Day 1. The Springbank Malt Barn Dinner did take place, and I was there. However, I took no notes. I have samples of all the drams and might post about them in the near future.

Before today's event, we wait in the distillery shop and browse the selection. I get to try a couple of exclusive bottlings, which do not convince me enough to buy them, and the 25yo. I liked that one a lot when I tried it; I am less convinced, today.
The employee pours the green-bottled Victoriana to someone and explains that green glass is for liquor (sic), brown for medicine and blue for stay away. "Haig Club?" I venture.

JS and I attend this warehouse shindig alongside fifteen-or-so others, one of them a rather irritating know-it-all. Others are nice and enthusiastic, including a Belgian, near me. "Your English is very good... for a French speaker," he says. Thanks. I choose to laugh about it rather than be offended.
The visit last year was a tour of the distillery and a taste of four casks. We cut to the chase, this year, and focus on the casks.

Glen Scotia d.2000 (±56.8%, cask sample, First Fill Bourbon Barrel, C#239): why the '±'? Well, it was probably exactly that when they selected the cask, but it keeps changing, since the whisky is still in the cask. Nose: an orchard fruit, fruity yoghurt, sultanas, Smyrna, stollen, icing sugar and apple shavings. This is old-school, OB Scotia in full. Mouth: soft, it has custard, vanilla, chocolate pudding, some wood shavings, and a bit of anaesthetising spices. Finish: orchard fruits again, yoghurt, more spices, custard and some wood influence. This is nice. A powerful Scotia (in terms of alcohol) with gentle flavours. After a few sips, the back is bitter, with green hazelnut shells and a salty tang (JS). 8/10

Glen Scotia d.2006 (±57%, cask sample, First Fill Bourbon Barrel, C#433): nose: powerful, this one. It has boiled sweets, then becomes more herbaceous, with pollen, old, faded gauze, rosemary in custard, gentle sticky toffee pudding, citrus peels and chocolate. Mouth: very citrus-y, here, it has lime, grapefruit skins, ginger shavings, mandarin, dried citrus peels. It is almost drying. Finish: a touch of wood spices, fruity yoghurt and, again, lots of dried citrus peels -- mandarins, tangerines, satsumas and grapefruit. 8/10

Please buy a Glen Scotia hat.
Please do not wear it at Glen Scotia.

Glen Scotia d.1989 (±55%, cask sample, Refill Sherry Hogshead, C#316): nose: leather, lamp oil, a hint of smoke (we are told the cask used to contain peated whisky before being filled with this one), a toolbox, a mechanic's workshop, as seen from behind a curtain. This one is almost farmyard-y, with distant farm paths, manure and dry hay. Mouth: an orchard fruit, here, compote in a cast-iron cauldron. It is warm, big and powerful, though not boisterous; it shows tranquil strength. Finish: here is the weak spot: it has  wine-y note. Apart from it, it has nuts, melted apples and lingonberry compote. 8/10

After I make a comment that aims to be funny, Iain McAllister dares me to open the final cask.

I master the bung-whacking technique, too!

Glen Scotia d.2008 (±58%, cask sample, Oloroso Hogshead, C#8): this one is peated and a mix of several first-fill Bourbon casks vatted into this hogshead for the last ten months. We are told the malt comes from Glen Esk Maltings. Nose: very farm-y, with manure, rotting apples, burning hay and ash. It even has notes of Morbier cheese. Mouth: soft, salty, very salty, with also horse's sweat. Finish: char-y, ashy, salty syrup. It has a sweetness to it too, sharp and drying like rum. 8/10

Glen Scotia d.2013 (unknown ABV, cask sample, ex-Bourbon Barrel, C#96): we finish with a heavily-peated dram -- to make sure we do not leave thirsty, you understand. Nose: ash, dry earth, hot sand, baked clay. This is so dry! Mouth: soft, discreet. I cannot taste much, really, other than it is summer-dry, with hay. Finish: very smoky, with more hot hay, very dry earth, coal dust and embers. This is alright. A bit too simple, compared with the others. 7/10

About when is best to drink the last dram:
Tourist: "You know, when you come home from a bad day..."
IMcA: "I don't get them!"

Need to run. We are soon late for our next tasting. Also, I am tipsy.

27/05/2017 Campbeltown Festival 2017 (Day 4) Glen Scotia visit

We have breakfast at the Royal Hotel, today, for a change.

Bishlouk, whom we met the other day, has scheduled a distillery tour of Glen Scotia. Seeing as we arrived too late for that on Wednesday, this is a good catch-up session. JS and I join Bishlouk for the grand tour, then. MS had other plans for the day.

It appears the guide is not there, following a mix-up in times -- they expected us at 15:00, we expected they would be there at 13:00. Two other tourists are keen too, so they are willing to accommodate us all. And since the guide is not here, we will take the tour with Iain McAllister, the distillery manager.

The few things of interest I note out of the tour are:

-The barley is always Scottish; mostly Concerto, sometimes Optic
-It is malted by Glen Esk Maltings
-Glen Scotia produces non-peated spirit 11 months a year and peaty spirit one month per year
-The malt mill was made by Robert Boby Ltd. in the 1840s. The company suffered the same fate as Porteus and Vickers
-Cast-iron mash tun
-A wash consists of four waters -- 66°, 72°, 85°, 85°
-Distiller's yeast, M strain
-Fermentation lasts 7--8 hours
-Glen Scotia mashes 5d/week and distills 6d/week
-Six stainless steel washbacks, installed ca. 2011
-The computer is only used for the washback self-cleaning
-Flat Lyne arm
-Coal-fired stills were transformed into indirect-heated stills in the late-1950s, or early 1960s
-Average strength after second distillation is 69.4%

The mash tun is interesting in that I had never seem a cast-iron tun before, yet this is the second in Campbeltown.

The mash tun

The mill

Washbacks

The stills

Not sure one should trust a man who wears two watches

Palettised warehouse

The tour ends in a warehouse, where we will try samples straight from the cask.

Glen Scotia d.2001 (ca 58%, Cask Sample, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, C#560): nose: warm toffee, vanilla, almost new leather soles. Mouth: slightly salty, with worm-eaten wood and cork. Finish: warm toffee, sticky toffee pudding -- or do I have bits of last night's dessert stuck between my teeth? ;-) 7/10

Glen Scotia d.1989 (ca 56%, Cask Sample, Refill Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, C#316): nose: leather, fox skin, a whiff of smoke and old furniture. Mouth: round and fruity, with soft prunes, dates, figs. It feels a lot less strong the previous one. Finish: long, warming, with game casserole in a wine sauce, with a smokiness to it, and precious wood. The nose has notes that do not quite work for me, but it is nice, overall. 7/10

Serious valinch action
during this trip

Glen Scotia Heavily Peated d.2013 (unknown ABV, Cask Sample, ex-Bourbon Barrel, C#96): this is made with malted barley, peated to 54ppm. For comparison, Ardbeg is 45--50ppm. Nose: decaying leather, fox skin, then butter and drying hay. Mouth: a little spirit-y, with cold custard, poured on hot sticky toffee pudding. It is mildly drying too. Finish: barbecued carrots, leather, hay and a rather animal touch. 7/10

At the end of it, I pull out my bottle of Glen Scotia 17yo (40%, OB, L4/332/97 402) out of my bag and share it with everyone. Iain is pleased: he has never seen that bottle before. I am excited to empty it in the very place it was made and matured. So much so, that I do not take notes.

Welcome home

Good little tour, well recommended.