12 Month Peated PX Cask Finish
As we are nearing the end of 2023, I’m a bit late with this review. The US releases well after the festival and it has taken me this long to get through the bottle. I’m glad I waited as my initial impressions no longer reflect my opinion today.
After reviewing the 2021 Festival bottle that I was just okay with, many people told me that the 2022 would blow my socks off. Well, I went out and bought it, cracked it back in the middle of March, thought it was dreadful, and then let it sit on my shelf for a few months. I figured I had just wasted my money and I thought that for a long time.
The Glen Scotia I sampled at the SMWS Gathering event gave me a renewed interest in revisiting this PX-finished bottle. I’m glad I waited. The bottle changed, only a bit, but the flavors were starting to align a bit better than those first few glasses.
Distillery: Glen Scotia.
Bottler: Distillery Bottling.
Region/style: Campbeltown.
ABV: 56.5%.
Age: 8 years.
Cask type: First Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel. 12-month Peated PX Cask finish.
Color: 1.5 Auburn. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Price: $80.
Tasting Notes
Tasted neat in a Glencairn with 20+ minutes of rest. Dilution was added for the second half of the tasting with an additional rest of upwards of an hour.
Nose: The first aroma that caught my attention was this meaty salinity. Like an herb butter-basted steak in a cast iron pan. Rosemary, thyme, and a bit of sage. Tart, sharp dried fruits like dried cranberries, golden raisins, and pineapple. Tough to distinguish but an acidic sour note also pops up. To some, it could be lactic like blue cheese but to me, it was more balsamic vinegar and lemon oils. A funky yeast note like a fresh, crusty French baguette. A touch of water brought out a much sweeter profile to the nose. Cardamom buns, stewed fruits, and rough puff pastry. More smoke billows from the glass like dried leaves thrown into the fire. There’s also a more noticeable flavored tobacco aroma along with some barbecued meat.
Palate: The texture of this whisky is the first note I want to present. It is incredibly soft. It has such a delicate touch despite the burning fields of grass, and peat notes behind it. There’s a light grilled pineapple and white peaches note, but it’s well hidden by the more herbal and floral notes. Wildflowers, slightly wilted gardenia blossoms, clover, and honeysuckle. After adding some dilution the texture is somehow even silkier. More oak spices come out now. Drambuie-esc with some cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. I might even have gotten a touch of anise. I enjoy this dram much more with dilution.
Finish: A lingering burnt charcoal note fills your nose as you finish your sip of whisky. A dry antiseptic alcohol finish. Clean, metallic copper notes. It’s a mix between acidic, vinegar-based barbecue sauce and liquid wood smoke. Adding water again was my preference as it elevated the fruit notes like a smoky berry compote. A cereal note also emerges that reminds me of steel-cut oats. Lastly, the campfire flavors are softened by the dilution and the metallic notes are all but gone. Enjoyable finish of smoldering peat embers burning your nose hairs.
Overall
I mentioned at the beginning I didn’t enjoy this whisky initially. By the end of this bottle, I had come around only slightly.
I enjoyed it but I don’t think this expression did much to move the needle. Scotia’s peat profile appeals to me but the finish on this bottling brings a decaying, moldy note with it that I did not enjoy. I have greatly enjoyed the citrus notes found in Caol Ila. The acidity in this dram, however, is certainly more on the vinegar spectrum to me.
I’m being harsh here but after having tasted more Glen Scotia in the past year or two, I’ve realized I prefer those simpler ex-bourbon casks more. This is a good bottle that just gets diminished a bit with that cask finish for me.
Final Score: 87