Glen Scotia 23yo Dunnage Series Cask #257 & Glen Scotia 8 Year Old 2014 Cask #21/655-1 (Distillery Exclusive)

Glen Scotia 23yo Dunnage Series Cask #257

Region: Campbeltown

ABV: 58.7%

Price: £300.00

A single cask release from Glen Scotia that was distilled in 1999 and initially matured in a refill American oak cask before being finished in a first fill bourbon cask. 150 bottles were released.

Nose

The nose opens with French pastries, salted caramel, icing sugar, wet rope, tangerine zest and some dunnage mustiness. It’s a vibrant, creamy nose with pastry cream, vanilla sponge cake and lemon posset. There’s very little alcohol bite for the ABV, and we could nose this all day.

Palate

The palate has lemon curd, hazelnuts, chocolate cream, bourbon biscuits, with ginger cake and black pepper appearing towards the finish. We’re finding a bit more of the alcohol spice on the palate, but it’s not overwhelming. The mouthfeel is relatively oily, and the finish lasts a good while with Terrys chocolate orange and toasted walnuts appearing. Time and air reveals salted pretzel bites, a hint of cinnamon bark and almond biscotti. It’s not as sweet as expected on the palate, it’s showing more of those deeper, richer and nuttier notes.

Nose (with water)

Reduction brings out a little bit of honeycomb, candied ginger, aniseed and plastic on the nose. Theres a bit more alcohol showing through now, but it still maintains a nice balance.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate brings forward a light smoke, hard toffee, preserved lemon and wood chips. The mouthfeel and finish are mostly maintained, but we can’t say that water has really helped the dram at all.

Conclusion

It’s a dram we could nose all day. You get the age, but the finish in the fresh bourbon has really given the dram a lift. The palate is a touch spicier than we expected given the well integrated nose. It’s very good whisky, although perhaps not our favourite twenty-something Glen Scotia.

Score: 7/10

Value

it’s a lot of cash to part with, but we’re also aware that there’s dwindling old Glen Scotia stocks. Personally we’d skip buying the bottle on this one.

Glen Scotia 8 Year Old 2014 Cask #21/655-1 (Distillery Exclusive)

Region: Campbeltown

ABV: 56.2%

Price: £80.00

This release was distilled in 2014, and aged for 8 years, including a finish in a first fill oloroso hogshead, before being bottled in 2022 for the distillery shop. 308 bottles were made available.

Nose

The nose opens with lots of musty warehouse funk, sea spray, mushy strawberries, dried ginger, wet leaves, custard cream biscuits and cardboard boxes. There’s also some fresh clementine and orange boiled sweeties appearing with some time in the glass. It’s a touch peppery in places, pink peppercorns, but mostly comes through with with creamy, sweet, salty and sour aromas.

Palate

The palate opens with hazelnuts, milk chocolate, clove, vanilla essence, carrot cake and malt loaf. There’s a fair amount of black pepper that sits on the tongue, along with fizzy lime flavoured sweeties and a touch of raisin sweetness too. The mouthfeel is thick-ish, not overly oily, but gives the dram some body. We’re also finding salted caramel and honeycomb sweetness appearing, moving into a medium length finish with more salt, malt and cinnamon bark.

Nose (with water)

With some water added, it feels slightly creamier, vanilla custard, fudge brownies with Maldon salt crystals sprinkled over them, but maintains the musty warehouse aromas and citrus to balance it.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate feels a little more coherent, less overt spice initially but more drying, nuttiness appears towards the latter part of the palate. There’s some bourbon glazed bananas, cinnamon sugar, chocolate lava cake and the peppery spice appearing again on the finish.

Conclusion

It’s a good quality Glen Scotia, but we can’t help feeling it’s a touch youthful in places, with a bit too much spice in others. There’s a good balance of creamy, sweet, salty, earthy and sour components to keep you coming back, but we think a few more years in the cask would have helped to round out some of the rougher edges.

Score: 7/10

Value

A touch pricey for what it is, maybe £10 cheaper and we’d say it was good value.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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