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Friday, July 4, 2014

Single Malt Report: Glen Scotia 20 year old 1992 Archives

Distillery: Glen Scotia
Independent Bottler: Archives
Age: 20 years (Feb 1992 - May 2012)
Maturation: Hogshead
Cask number08/71
Limited bottling: 80
Region: Campbeltown
Alcohol by Volume: 50.4%

Let's keep the shpiel short today.  I've never met an indie Glen Scotia I didn't like (even a port finished version!).  Both previous Archives bottlings I've tried were excellent (see here and here).  Let's see if the streaks continue...

Thank you to MAO for a good-sized sample of this Glen Scotia 20 year old 1992 from Archives...

NEAT
The color is light gold.  The nose has lots of fresh apple (skin and juice), the very beginnings of tropical fruit, and dried apricots.  But after some air, out comes the peat moss which then takes front stage.  Behind it a note of toasted grains develops, as do hints of pine and honey mustard.  The palate is oily in texture and taste.  Light brown sugar then peat moss then barley.  It's short at first, but after some air it expands... Plantains, honey, salt, cigar tobacco.  Then comes the industrial exhaust and what I can only imagine is the grit from Campbeltown roads.  It has a decent sized finish with a Springbank-like oily thing; then salt, pepper, lime zest, and a menthol glow.

Me likes.  Time to hydrate it down below 40%.

WITH WATER
In the nose, the peat goes manure-y.  In fact, it smells like the all natural plant food (read: bat guano) I bought last year.  That's followed by mint, citrus sour candies, caramel, rubber bands, and dirt.  The palate gets simpler.  Barley, sugar, peat, vanilla, and soil, along with a light tartness.  The finish mellows out too, though still lasts longer than I expected -- some cream, sugar, and the tart note.

CJ and Menno picked well again.

This Glen Scotia is for Springbank fans.  It takes the hint of grit from the official bottlings and expands on it.  It also develops many layers in the nose and palate missing from the OBs.  My nose notes are creepily similar to the official ones, but I found much different stuff in the palate.  MAO's review finds similar notes and conclusions.  And this marks the rare moment wherein he and I have the most positive reviews on a whisky.  Ruben from whiskynotes didn't care for it much and Serge was limited in his praise, though their notes seem to be of a much more imbalanced whisky.  Before you blindly pull the trigger on it, check out their reviews and the whiskybase listing because this is the biggest rave you'll read about this single malt.

Availability - Here's the link, they're out of samples though :(
Pricing - around $95 w/o shipping, depending on exchange rate
Rating - 88