You know what .. I am really looking forward to this review, Glen Scotia is really starting to intrigue me with some fantastic tasting whisky and when I noticed this on the Murray McDavid table at a recent whisky festival I had to dive in and see if what I thought would be right.
Murray McDavid is an independent bottler established in 1996 and is one of the leading independent bottlers today, and with the Colebirn distillery behind them they really do produce some very interesting bottles for release..
The company releases under 6 product names..
Mission Gold.. Prestige, vintage and rare whisky.
Benchmark.. Mature single malts.
Mystery Malts.. To puzzle the whisky Buff.
Select Grain.. Single Grains.
The Vatting.. A marriage of single malts.
CraftedBlend.. Single malts and Grains.
Todays review is the Glen Scotia 24 yo from 1991. This started it’s journey in a bourbon barrel before getting a period in a sherry hogshead and then a final finishing period in an Vosne – Romanee red wine barrique.. This is still a single cask and is one of only 330 bottles and is bottled at 46% abv..
Nose.. This starts off with a real hit of wild winter berries and dried fruits before subtle spices and gentle oak make an appearance.. Somewhere in the background there is a real subtle smokey note with a slight sulphur note but it’s so faint it kind of enhances everything.. Chocolate and old leather along with burnt sugared almonds, citrus peels and cooking apples all make an appearance.
Palate.. Winter spices with a bitter citrus note by you first before those dried fruits come through, plums, dates and burnt sugar with apple pie dusted with cinnamon and ginger..
Finish.. long and spicy.
Thoughts.. Interesting!! There are moments when I’m unsure about it but then it turns a corner and starts to shine.. This is a real puzzler, it changes so much but makes you question yourself. I kind of think the final two casks do try to battle it out for supremacy.. The red wine cask is certainly more dominant at times with the sherry notes a little more subdued.. With lots of time to open it does settle down a little more.. This is one I need to re -visit .. For research purposes…
ocdwhisky.com 