This bottle I picked up after the awesome tour and tasting at the distillery almost two years ago. I then got home and saw my credit card bill and decided to bottle-share a significant part of the haul from Scotland, including half of this bottle.

I got greedy when I was there, and it cost me, in a way. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but it is a lesson for when I’m in Scotland in April. I have to be careful with what I buy, since money is limited and if I buy good stuff, I want it for myself…

Anyway, this limited edition bottled in 2017, only for sale at the distillery clocked in at a not insignificant £ 110, which I find pretty steep for an 11 year old whisky, even if it is a distillery only bottling. Maybe even because it’s a distillery only bottling. About a decade ago going to a distillery was not as common as it is now, and a distillery only thing was generally a very well priced bottling since there are a lot less people trying to make a profit, and (at least to me) it was a bit of a ‘thanks for taking the effort to come here’ item.

Things have changed. These bottles are prized even though a lot of them are far from interesting nowadays. This one, however, even though expensive, was very interesting to me. And, especially since visiting the place and buying this bottle and the other distillery only available back then, made me fall in love with Glen Scotia.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Somehow, with the first careful sniff I get a whiff of farmyard and manure. Then there’s a lot of fresh fruit with hints of banana, peach, and maybe some kiwi. In the background there’s sweet barley sugar and the sweetness of oak.

Sip:
Somehow, quite a lot sharper than the Springbank Local Barley I had before, while they’re at a similar ABV. Dry fruity notes with oak and barley. Slightly less fruity than before. Peach, banana, stewed apple and sweet pear.

Swallow:
The finish has a bit of an afterburner, with quite some heat from the alcohol. When it wanes you get a lot of fruity notes of the peaches and banana from before. The strange thing is that they keep the middle between dried and fresh fruit.

Well, this is another cracker! The fruity notes with the ‘rustic’ notes on the nose of farms, sheep, that kind of stuff made me love this whisky. While not in any way comparable, these notes are also what makes Brora Brora, and I think that, in a way, Glen Scotia has a lot to offer if this is the direction they’re going!

88/100

Glen Scotia 11yo, 2005-2017, cask 818, 58.2%. Available only at the distillery back then. Now in the secondary market for € 169.