Whisky : Glen Scotia 10Y SMWS 93.98 “Hospital facehugger”

Country/Region : Scotland/Campeltown

ABV : 58.2%

Cask : 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel

Age : 10 Years (Distilled Feb. 29, 2008)

Nose : Farmer’s market tropical fruits: creamy custardy cherimoya, soursop, melon rind, fried plantains, and over-ripened brown banana.  In the background a sun baked puddle of salty sea water, iodine, band-aides, and antiseptic cleaner hint at the subtle peat.

Palate : Bright and sweet like fresh crushed sugar cane juice with lime.  The velvety smooth body carries Chinese five spice and star anise.  An astringent wet wood or moist pepeiao (wood ear mushroom) provide a faintly earthy sweetness.

Finish : Long and lingering, sweet swimming pool chemical chlorine, hot tar covered pavement, and hospital waiting room.  It clears the sinuses.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Summer time sun beating down on an over chlorinated swimming pool and sizzling asphalt parking lot.  It’s the scent of childhood summers spent outdoors.

Something Similar : Jura Superstition (similar antiseptic and tropical fruit, more fish/brine)

Something Similar : Springbank 12 Cask Strength (similar dry peat, spice, more earth/caramel)

Notes : My first Glen Scotia and my what an introduction!

I was not expecting this peated malt to be so smooth, easy to drink, or full of ripe tropical fruit.  Knowing Glen Scotia hailed from Campbeltown I expected mildly meaty but probably more mineral like smoke; there was none of that at all.

This was the finale in our Scottish Malt Whisky Society “Battle of the Glens.”  The two prior tastings had been a 10 Year Glen Elgin and a 30 Year Glen Grant, while both of those were interesting, neither had the long leggy finish or tropical fruit profile of the Glen Scotia.  It was a surprising result.  I think all of us were expecting that the more obvious fruit filled descriptions of the unpeated drams would win us over— especially the 30 year sherry cask aged Glen Grant.  I was still pretending to be a dinosaur when that came off the stills and into a cask.  The younger Glen Scotia won us over with its delicately balanced flavors and literally clean (like toilet bowl cleaner) mouthfeel.

The Glen Scotia had a fascinating blend of ripe, sweet, and starchy tropical fruits with an unmistakeable dose of bleach.  It is the antiseptic bleach, Clorox, or chlorine that ties this dram together from faint hints on the nose to a dominant part of the long finish.  For a boy who grew up in the midwestern United States, the pungent smell of swimming pool cleaner chemical is the smell of summer.  Massive amounts of chlorine are sprinkled or poured into swimming pools to sanitize them for the coming warm weather.  I was a pool rat growing up, I loved the water, and probably ingested an unfortunate amount of chlorine as I grew up.  A competitive swimmer once I got a bit older, a lifeguard when I needed summer work, the smell and taste of chlorine was never far.

This dram drank so easy it was hard to even remember to add a few drops of water.  I have skipped my usual better/similar/worse in favor of proposing two drams that approximate aspects of this one.  After this, I am ready for my next chance to try some more Glen Scotia.