This completely random Glen Scotia came from an auction a few months ago. By now the bottle is empty because of me liking the whisky, it being used in a tasting and some bottle-shares.

For some reason the ‘Westwood’ thing stood out to me, because when I was 25 years younger that was a game studio that made the original Command & Conquer games. Totally random and I do realize one has nothing to do with the other, but hey, here we are…

I’ve had a bit of a focus on Glen Scotia since visiting them in 2018, and with them still being relatively affordable, the focus might stay a while.

Sniff:
Earthy, coastal, with oak and a whiff of old cheddar. In a good way. Grist, with some oak.

Sip:
Quite dry, with lots grain. Barley, pepper, oak. Some apple, a hint of bitterness. Again, that whiff of cheese. A minot acidic note, with the cheese/milk notes makes me think of buttermilk a little bit.

Swallow:
Barley, with a bit more sweetness. Still dry with some white pepper. Dry oak and a bit of custard.

It’s quite a straight forward whisky that does what Glen Scotia is supposed to do, without going in any strange direction. I think straight forward is a very good direction for this whisky.

I like the whiff of cheddar and buttermilk, in combination with the grain. It’s a bit porridge-like, but with pepper makes it a bit more than a ‘breakfast whisky’.

What’s also good is that it is not overpowered by the cask in any way, unlike that bourbon cask sample from the recent online dunnage warehouse tasting.

87/100