Glen Scotia Sample Pack No-Notes Reviews: Double Cask, 15yo, 18yo, 25yo, Victoriana

Hello and welcome to some teeny little bottles of Glen Scotia, a distillery whose official bottling lineup I'd been meaning to explore even before a dusty Signatory 1991 rocked my world last year ( • Springbank Substitutes... ). And because these bottles are so small - the 25 is literally about 1cl - I'm reviewing them with no notes. (Which, in retrospect, is really hard when you're dealing with a distillate like this.)
Scotia is a venerable old distillery (founded 1832) that has recently come into the role of Campbeltown Malt Of Last Resort, sought out mainly when the shelves have been emptied of Springbank and Kilkerran and the customer thinks to google what else is made nearby. That's a bit sad, as there's a lot to recommend GS all on its own (dunnage warehousing near the sea! light peating! long, six-day fermentations!). Plus, new owners Loch Lomond Group actually seem to be treating it pretty well: some questionable cask choices aside, the entire official bottling range is now at 46% ABV or better and (with the exception of the 25) prices are pretty reasonable. So here we go:
- Glen Scotia "Double Cask" Single Malt Scotch Whisky (NAS, bourbon barrels finished in pedro ximenez; bottled circa 2020; 46% ABV), 83+/100
- Glen Scotia 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (aged in American oak; bottled circa 2020; 46% ABV), 85+/100
- Glen Scotia 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (aged in American oak, finished in oloroso; bottled circa 2020; 46% ABV), 85-/100
- Glen Scotia 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (aged in American oak; bottled circa 2020; 48.8% ABV), 89?/100
- Glen Scotia "Victoriana" Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (NAS, finished in "deeply charred oak"; bottled circa 2020; 54.2% ABV), 84-/100
Even if I complain about some excessive raw oak at times, everything here is sooo much better than sooo many of the malt tasting sets I've done in the past plagued by crappy presentation/low bottling strengths. The 15 is the value here and it's the one I'd actually buy (possibly the Double Cask too if the price were right). The 18 and Victoriana are going to be more divisive, in that oak maniacs - yes you, you with the Balvenie 17 back there, I see you - are going to absolutely love both while I find them just too overwrought, especially the Victoriana. Meanwhile my tiny sample of 25 is free of any such problems, or really any sense of tampering at all: it really comes off as a weird and characterful distillate aged for a long time in well-worn ex-bourbon casks, then simply vatted and bottled. It's terrific, and with more than a few sips my score may well have broken into the 90s. That said, it's also brutally expensive... but when the shelves are empty of Springbank 25, well, why not?
Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon ( / differentspirits ) -
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