Glen Scotia 9 Year Old Heavily Peated Red Wine Finish 2025 Festival Release

Glen Scotia 9 Year Old Heavily Peated Red Wine Finish 2025 Festival Release

Region: Campbeltown

ABV: 54.3%

Price: £64.95

The 2025 Campbeltown Malts Festival bottling from Glen Scotia features heavily peated spirit that was matured in first-fill Bourbon barrels and finished for six months in Spanish Ribera del Duero red wine casks.

Nose

The nose opens with sour plums, grape must, a little acrid smoke, raspberry jam, undercooked pie crust, sea spray, vegetable oil, and hessian cloth. The smoke begins fairly soft, but as time passes and air gets into the dram, it starts to become a lot more prominent. It's a sweet smoke, vanilla mixed with coastal bonfire embers, and we're getting a lot of that signature Glen Scotia spirit character, the salty, sweet, funky Campbeltown aromas that we enjoy. The alcohol is fairly well balanced, and we're also finding licorice, blackcurrant cordial, and antiseptic spray.

Palate

The palate opens with redcurrant jelly and strawberry jam, moving quickly into cocoa beans, burnt oak and caramelised vanilla. There's a lot of that caramelised sweetness that rides into the finish, think butterscotch, warm white chocolate and Scottish tablet. The mouthfeel is fairly disappointing, there's a bit of texture here but it's flatter than we'd expect from the spirit, it feels a bit watery. The alcohol does balance well though, with only a light peppery spice mixing nicely with the brown sugar and charred wood-like peat smoke. Time and air brings out some chocolate chips and salty cured venison, and a handful of sesame seeds too. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has much more of the original bourbon cask sweetness coming through, alongside much more coastal, salty aromas. The peat smoke has also grown in presence, maintaining a slightly medicinal yet very sweet profile. The wine casks have mostly faded into the background sans a little bit of red fruit that appears if you look hard enough for it.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate maintains the sugary sweetness from before, but like the reduced nose, its more of the vanillas, brown sugars and fudge from the original bourbon cask - there's nothing wrong with that though. The mouthfeel remains a little flat, but we're getting a bit of lemon water now, along with the peat smoke which has softened slightly, perhaps overtaken by the sweetness of the dram.

Conclusion

The short red wine finish has definitely imparted a fair amount of berry flavours onto the heavily peated Glen Scotia spirit, and the dram maintains the signature distillery style which is good to see. Our biggest gripe is with the texture, it's a bit flat, disappointing for what can usually be a robust, full bodied spirit. It's a good whisky though, one we'd happily have another dram of. 

Score: 7/10

Value

The price point is in line with last year’s festival release.

• 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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