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Glen Scotia Victoriana

Glen Scotia Victoriana

$129.99

Produced from what the distiller feels are the hand-selected best casks in the warehouse. Bottled at 51.5% and non-chill-filtered the Victoriana is currently the top of the line in the Glen Scotia range, it has a prominent smokiness. Finished in deeply charred oak and possibly some Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks. 

 

750ml ml
Region:Scotland > Campbeltown
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Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: subdued at first, used engine oil on a dirty floor, caramel, creamy oak and spices; pineapple and clean smoke with some black licorice; becomes smokier and spicy with dark chocolate and beef jerky.

Palate: big, rich, earthy and spicy; tobacco, engine oil and burnt rubber with hint of metal and spices; lots of fruit, more pineapple, it is leathery and fresh with a building clean salty smoke. 

Finish: long, fruity and spicy with clean smoke and brine.

Evan’s Tasting Note (different batch)

Nose: Salty black licorice, miso, soy sauce, pistachio nuts, peanut oil, peach puree, brandied cherries, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, and hot mulled apple cider with a cinnamon stick for stirring.

Palate: Oily and ashy with salt and pepper, burnt caramel, sticky toffee pudding, licorice tea, hazelnuts and Nutella, sarsaparilla, warm and melting smores, dark bread with molasses,

Finish: Ashy, nutty and creamy with salty macadamia nuts and a hint of peach and pear nectar on the fade.

Comment: It has been a while since I tasted the older 51.5% version of the Victoriana, but from what I remember I would say the 54.2% version is a touch less oily and just a hint lighter in style. I wouldn’t say either is better or worse than the other, I enjoy both. They are more just variations of a theme, and that is a good thing.

Distiller's Tasting Note

Nose: Dark again. An elegant nose with hints of oak driving the bouquet. Interesting creme brulee notes leading to generous caramelised fruits and finally polished oak.

Palate: Sweet and concentrated start with some jammy blackcurrant fruitiness. A big mid palate. Typical tightening towards the back palate. Becomes more austere with water.

Finish: Clean and initially sweet.The green bean, with cocoa characteristic.

Originally posted on our blog by Evan for KWM's 2019 and 2020 Whisky Calendars.

Glen Scotia is easily one of the top three operating distilleries in Campbeltown. When it comes to The Wee Toon, it is typically Springbank Distillery that gets all of the love from whisky aficionados. It is easy to see why – Springbank is a grungy Victorian throwback in look and feel. It is an anachronism – a distillery out of time and out of step with modern life – just as some say Campbeltown itself is. Springbank is rustic, dilapidated, inconsistent, and often impossible to find bottles from nowadays. And it is all the more loved because of that.

It should not be forgotten that Campbeltown is home to three distilleries: Springbank, Glengyle (bottled as Kilkerran), and Glen Scotia. Like it's Wee Toon’ cohort Springbank, the Glen Scotia Distillery itself is chock-full of grimy, victorian, and industrial character in all of the right ways. Also like both Springbank and Kilkerran, Glen Scotia Distillery lies within the town itself.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, back when Campbeltown was a more industry-driven place and with a more bustling fishing port, Glen Scotia had neighbouring distilleries on the other sides of the walls that encase its lot. At this time, the story goes, the town had more distilleries than churches which themselves numbered more than thirty. Boom times eventually went bust, and for quite a while only two distilleries remained in the town, though that could have been considered one and a half for how little Glen Scotia operated in the early 2000s.

Andrew tells stories of visiting the distillery more than a decade ago, when it was only sporadically in operation, and very uncared for. Much of the distillery equipment was falling apart. When Andrew and I visited in October of 2019, times had obviously changed. We had a great tour through Glen Scotia’s operations, led by Distillery Manager Iain McAlister and saw that everything was in operation, the stillhouse had thick coats of paint over nearly every surface possible, and the stills were polished and running.

Glen Scotia Distillery just so happens to be owned the Loch Lomond Group, which we have seen three times already in this year’s calendar with the Inchmurrin 18 Year, the Inchmoan 12 Year, and the Loch Lomond 18 Year. Glen Scotia itself has a fairly robust lineup of five core releases at the moment, including the Double CaskVictoriana15-Year-Old, 18-Year-Old, and 25 Year Old. There has even been a release of a 45-Year-Old, though this is a lot more difficult and a lot more expensive to come by.

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