When traveling to Scotland in 2022, and staying on Arran we also made the obligatory trip to Campbeltown. While there we didn’t visit Springbank or Glen Scotia, but we did visit Watt Whisky.

Back then we were the first to get a bit of a tour of the town from them, based on them just getting their license to do tastings. I contacted Mark Watt about a tour of Campbeltown, since we initially booked that with Springbank, but they stopped doing that when Covid hit, and hadn’t picked it up by then.

Kate and Mark showed us around the town, and we saw a lot of old distilleries that are no longer operational, or the sites where they sat a hundred years ago. After the tour we had a tasting at the Watt Whisky Headquarters, and we took home a bottle or two each. Even though it was after Brexit we decided to gamble on that.

This Highland Whisky, of which Mark said he also doesn’t know which distillery it’s from, was the one I took home. And now, almost two years later I’m writing a review while the bottle is nearing its end.

Sniff:
This is a Highland whisky with some serious ‘authentic elements’. And by that I mean it’s massively funky with heaps of leather, shoe polish and mango peel. Wet casks, soaked barley. A bit of cork and a rubbery note as well.

Sip:
The palate doesn’t really bite, even though it’s over 50%. There’s a bit of intensity, but it’s not aggressive. There’s oak, whisky infused casks, some stewed red fruits, cork, leather. It’s slightly less funky, and the rubbery note is gone. It focuses on oak a lot more, as well as there being a certain dry graininess.

Swallow:
The finish veers right back to the massive funkiness from the nose. Leather, mango peels (leathery stuff again), shoe polish. Wet oak, some sponge cake.

As described, it’s a bit of a strange one. It appeals to me because of that, but I can imagine this not being for everyone. The funkiness is through the roof, with all kinds of notes that are not usually found in whisky of this type. Leather, soggy bread, cork. Very interesting, and I am enjoying it. Although based on the Whiskybase score not everyone is as much.

87/100