Whisky : Glen Scotia 10 Year, Campbeltown Malts Festival 2021

Country/Region : Scotland/Campbeltown

ABV : 56.1%

Cask : First Fill Bourbon, Bordeaux Red Wine Finish

Age : 10 Year

Nose :  Fruity, herbal, and dank.  Boxes of red apples, prunes, and plums in a dunnage warehouse.  Fruity-tart notes of cranberry led into wolf berries, herbal candies, pine needles, and a burnt out campfire.  Subtle notes of bacon and cocoa powder mix.

Palate : Medium bodied and oily with chocolate, fruit, and cream.  Hot cocoa mix with marshmallows and cherry syrup, powdered semi-sweet baking chocolate, and chocolate malted milk balls.  Dried fruits paired well with the chocolate— apples, cherries, and pears— along with subtle cinnamon and baking spice.  An earthiness lay behind the chocolate with notes of clay, limestone, and water dripping off a stalactite.  Dryness at the end with dried berries and old campfire sites.

Finish :  Lingering dryness with earthy clay and minerals.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Reservation at Cavern on the Green

Notes : Was this dram really reminiscent of the Futurama episode “A Leela of Her Own”?  Maybe.  I have not patronized a whole lot of underground restaurants so I am not speaking from a wealth of experience.  However, I had an inkling that this reflected some of the flavor and experience of a date at Elzar’s restaurant, “Cavern on the Green.”  The minerals, chocolate, earthiness, and spice all struck me as carrying some of the atmosphere of cave with notes of dessert.

I absolutely love that Glen Scotia widely releases an affordable festival bottle every year.  The distillery is so often overshadowed by its famous neighbor that these releases fly under the radar.  Yet, there is a lot to love.  The festival bottles have been uniformly good— great even if we are judging off a price/quality ratio— and the fact that you can often find them without too much trouble is just amazing.  Very few distilleries have festival releases that appear at retail in the United States— in fact it feels like to get your hands on any festival bottle you either need to get lucky or be willing to fork over significant money on a secondary market or auction.  I do not mind distilleries producing very limited and special festival releases, but I appreciate when there is something available for the rest of us.

Overall, a tasty, affordable, and generally available festival release.  This had tons of chocolatey cask influence from the Bordeaux finish which balanced nicely against the fruity malt.  

Image Credit : Royal Mile Whiskies