2022 Release Peat-in-Progress | 59.1% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
A big, bold and delicious peat monster
Is Whisky in Dire Straits?
A quick Instahoot post threw me down a rabbit hole of Dire Straits so vast and deep that this bottle of whisky has now been intrinsically linked to their music. It’s funny how that happens.
Nights to remember
I’m starting to write this just after submitting my Hazelburn review, although you may remember it as the Ardbeg rant. Following the news of the 17yo coming back in a less than respectable presentation, I desperately needed some positive serendipity.
Turns out, the very week Ardbeg unveiled their malicious plans for said 17yo, I was invited to a Springbank society tasting by my pal Ianis, who is also my rep for Dugas, Springbank’s importer in France. I am fortunate in my job and sometimes stuff like this appears out of nowhere.
I am not part of the Springbank society, but there were some seats left available, so of course I jumped on the occasion. I immediately said yes, figuring that future Ainsley was very well suited to deal with the planning issues that could entail. I can always count on future Ainsley.
The tasting was held at the whisky shop in Paris, just in front of the Madeleine church. A setting contrasting quite a bit to Campbeltown. J&A Mitchell brand ambassador Andrew Wallace was hosting the tasting and it was really nice to have someone who isn’t just spewing out the marketing-approved tale they’re sometimes told to deliver. Andrew is a genuine whisky fan, and has extensive knowledge of the production at Springbank and Glengyle distilleries. Trust me, this isn’t the case with every brand ambassador in the whisky world.
We were welcomed by him in the shop offering us a warm-up dram of Campbeltown Loch, which just reminded everyone how good a wee sipper this was; definitely grabbing myself a bottle for the winter months. Andrew confirmed to us it was made out of 60% unpeated Kilkerran, completed by small proportions of all the other Campbeltown malts, and mainly aged in oloroso sherry casks. He also expressed how proud they were that it was voted best blended malt in the last OSWAs, the only award meaning something in the whisky world, in his own words. This is also when my pal Romain made his appearance. Romain was a sommelier, and has been working at the whisky shop for about a year now. He’s fallen into the whisky-filled well, and is unlikely to ever come back out.
We then made our way upstairs to the tasting room, and the six drams that were going to be poured for us that night were unveiled, in hand-labelled bottles. There are some bangers here; let me give you a quick recap…
We started with a vatting cask sample of the new 100% ex-bourbon Springbank 18, at 46,8%. Andrew explained that what they do at Springbank when they release a whisky, is they first marry the selected casks in a steel tank for a few days, and reduce them to around 50% ABV for example if they plan to do a 46% release. They then put the married whisky back into the original casks for a period they call the honeymoon, lasting about 6 months. 5 of the 6 whiskies tasted that night would be drawn from such casks. This 18yo was chalky, buttery, full of waxy lemons and tropical fruits, and almost had a Clynelish vibe to it, which I of course loved.
We then tried a vatting sample of the upcoming 2024 edition of Kilkerran 16 (see Tav’s review of the 2023 edition here). The casks make up for this one is 70% bourbon, 20% oloroso and 10% rum. This was probably the one of the best Kilkerrans I’ve tried to date, showcasing fermenting fruits such as pineapples, prunes, raisins, copper coins and a soft smoke. A very elegant yet mouth coating whisky.
We then hastily tackled the third whisky, which will be released in 2025 as the new Springbank Local Barley. Quite on theme with Roy’s recent vPub about barley, this one is 8 years old and made from unpeated Bere barley, giving it an oily, malty and fruity profile. The mouth feel on this one is simply stunning.
The whisky that was voted best of the flight at the end of the tasting is the one that was in fourth position, the new 10yo Amontillado release in the sherry cask series. Herbal, medicinal, with heather, eucalyptus, orange liqueur, amaro, cola syrup, and a gorgeous mouthfeel. The sherry is clean, and to me it is much much more balanced than the PX iteration. A proper sherry bomb, with a distillate to match. What a dram.
But the festivities didn’t stop here, as while Andrew told anecdote after story and answered the geekiest of our questions, we were being poured the latest society bottling, a 20yo Springbank drawn from 6 fresh Port casks. It was fruity and vinous, but wasn’t drowned by the port. It had a round, caramel-like mouthfeel, with notes of grilled peanuts and milk chocolate. Port maturation done right.
The last dram of the flight was a Longrow, which I think just came out. 6 years old, bottled at 57.1% and from refill pinot noir casks. Andrew announced to us that the Longrow red range was going to be ditched, in favour of reviving the late Longrow 100 proof range as a yearly release. This is great news, as this means they will be able to play with a lot of different casks that are not necessarily red wine. This could also mean that at some point we will have a simple 100 proof ex-bourbon or ex-sherry Longrow, and I don’t know about you, but that is the sort of thing my dreams are made of. This Longrow had a sweet fruity side, but the wine influence was kept in check and was well integrated. It still was noticeable though, and though it’s one of the best red wine matured whiskies I’ve tried to date, it’s not the one I’d personally go on the hunt for.
As everyone poured themselves another dram of their favourite, we started to chat amongst ourselves, and it was great to be able to talk to like-minded individuals about this liquid we all love and cherish. There was talk about availability and pricing, sure, but in the end the focus was these seven beautiful drops we had the chance to try. Campbeltown has never been so high on the Ainsley bucket list, let me tell you.
As everyone made their way home, Ianis took Andrew – who’d never been to Paris and was leaving the next day – on an express walking tour of the city centre, and I stayed a little bit with Romain, who poured me a dram from the whisky shop’s own stash: the elusive Springbank 17 yo Madeira Wood. Gorgeous stuff. Inebriated just enough, and although I told myself before entering that I wouldn’t buy any whisky, I managed to veto this and get myself not one, not two, but three bottles, two of which have already been reviewed here but are basically unobtainium in France, and another one which I’ll write a review about at some point.
We then met up with Ianis and Andrew at around 11pm in a nearby bistrot, to drink nice wine and educate Andrew about the delights of French charcuterie and cheese. We even felt obliged to open a bottle of Champagne, both to celebrate this wonderful evening and to toast some great news coming from some of us, about the replenishment of Earth’s population.
It’s nights like these that make whisky such a special drink and much more than a simple hobby. I feel privileged to have been invited to this tasting, for a great night was had.
Congrats Romain for your little Raphaël, and you as well Ianis for the future miniature version of yourself!
Review
GLen Scotia 8yo, Campbeltown Malts Festival 2022 Edition, Heavily Peated, PX finish for 12 months, 56.5% ABV
£55 in 2022 – sold out
In opening things from my stash I’m uncovering a palate that is far more able than I expected, with bottles I appreciated in a different phase of my whisky life. I’ve been steadily depleting the Glen Scotia 15 I opened in July and really enjoying it, and have pitted it against this 8yo for obvious reasons – a review went out very recently of the 15yo in old and new branding, and I must say that the scores in that review are more than justified.
In thinking about this bottle and what it means to me now, I stole a look back at my review, written in May 2022, when I’d been drinking whisky in an excited way for just over a year, and I’m astonished to see I gave it a 6 out of 10. In the comments section Willie has written:
Not only am I surprised by that low mark, but £55 seems remarkable value, even if it’s “only” 8 years old. But you know me, age has no bearing on what I think of a whisky. Flavour is king. and I have to say this is delivering quite exceptional flavour. I’m finding a lot more redness in this whisky than I did last time, big sweet, salty redness.
In theory it’s very close to the 15 in character and temperament, but with more time in the glass and some patience, the 8yo is starting to stride off into the distance. This has a good dose more ABV – 10.5% more to be exact and both drink easily, but this 8yo has so much more robustness of flavour, a lot more cedary redness, compared to the malty, softer funk of the 15. In fact, sometimes the 15 in comparison presents almost watery, which is ridiculous when the 15 in isolation is robust and flavourful too. A measure of the ABV maybe?
There’s more farmy, funkiness in the 8yo, which makes sense and brings to mind the time we tried the new-make spirit beside the spirit safe on our wonderful tour of Glen Scotia, with Archie and Cheryl at the wheel, and oor Gregor in a state of whisky fatigue. Burst baw. Aye, I think it’s safe to say that this wee 8yo Festival bottling from 2022, and the full spectrum of flavour it exhibits, passed widely and quickly over my green head.
Marks are difficult for this – it’s definitely not a 6, holy Christmas, and the fact that I scored this a 6 because I’d scored Victoriana a 7, makes me sweat at the prospect of what I’d find in Victoriana now, since it’s probably two years since I last tried that sucker too. Would that be an 8 now? This opening of stuff in the stash is getting me more and more excited for what is to come.
Nose
That typical GS character of smelly meaty decaying fruit, mixed in with a rich red sweetness and thrust through a plastic bag. It’s all spice and pepper, but after a while the more tropical, bright notes appear. Farmy. New-make. Youthful, and I love it.
Palate
Bonfire! Big smokey, burning, charcoaled marshmallows. Flame grilled meat on the wind. Barbeque. Saucy. Some farmy youth appears, coming back to this after some different drams. Plastic bags and malty dustbins, honeycomb and strawberry ice cream sauce, the PX asserts its presence in waves, on and off. Cedar. A dram I keep coming back to.
The Dregs
What’s surprised me most about this whisky is how moreish it is, despite the ABV. Not only that, but Glen Scotia asked £55 for it in 2022, which on this day of cask strength Festival aligned 5yo whisky commanding £105, seems ridiculously good value. Glen Scotia’s 2024 Campbeltown Malts Festival bottling is a 9yo unpeated Fino Sherry finish, priced at £65 and still available months after the festival closed its hallowed doors. That’s also great value, having not tried it I can’t vouch for the liquid but to see those prices for smaller release, cask strength whisky warms my heart.
Yes, after a while, the youth of it all starts appearing but, loving that character especially in Glen Scotia, I welcome it with open arms. It’s a really good, interesting and explorable whisky. This is very good indeed, and worthy of its price. I think I undersold it back in 2022, and so yes, Wlliie, I think it does need to go up a point, thus an improved score of 7/10 is more than deserved. Onto the next (and another bottle of Victoriana purchased)!
Score: 7/10
