🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

Quite fruity and straight, the mouthfeel is probably a bit thin, still quite nice overall

Believe it or not, Campbeltown has more to offer than Springbank. Glen Scotia has always been a bit under the radar, but it has a lot to offer as a distillery! The 15-year-old expression has an intriguing nose, featuring salted caramel, pastries and apricots. Porridge, honey and floral scent add to the complexity. Spicy, aromatic and increasingly cask-dominated, the palate is balanced out by subtle sweetness, bitter walnuts and a touch of arugula. Lemon balm, nutmeg and salt linger in the resinous finish. Almost like Clynelish 14, a singular malt with character. RATING: 3.9/5.0 stars ≙ 86 pts → FIRST-CLASS [-]

Quite light bodied but well balanced on honey, cooked fruits, vanilla, toffee, quite nice

Divisive whisky. It has it's own beauty, I feel it sometimes...

It reminded me of Abeleura a bit in smell, very tasty

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2017/12/11/bottle-polishing-december-delights/ The disparity between reviews shows that this one has divided the room. It would appear that 2015-16 batches were far less superior to batches seen from spring 2017 till now. N: With its dark pinky/orangey hue, this is a decidedly malty/toffee number, albeit gentle, packed full of tasty plump dried fruits including a whole heap of ripe raisins [think Eccles cakes], apricots and soft citrus-y jams. The spicy biscuit-y & [old man] mustiness is simply the icing on the cake, joined by a complex subtle vanilla & sweet herbal liqueur note. Whichever way it turns, it likes to return to this delightful malty cereal base [Shreddies as well as German pastries], with leathery & mineral overtones. The cask control & balance display is as commendable as the character/smell & taste of the oak, without being blatantly bourbon-y nor sherried in the modern style. Old & split oak fence panelling does it for me. T: Is that rum on arrival? It is rum on the arrival, but that perception doesn’t last long. The arrival warrants a little water to smooth off the edges as the oak is ‘large-ing it’, and just a little prickly/spicy. With a little water there’s a wonderfully rounded, honeyed malty/toffee-d arrival with a firm yet musky oakiness following through. I utterly concur with Ralfy’s dark treacle note. He calls this 15yo “a contemporary masterpiece”. Later I’m getting old liqueured raisins with a complex heathery toasted barley sweetness coupled with a faint herbal/medicinal edge and an oaky char with firm hints at a little peat smoke. Vanilla liqueur becomes more prominent as it opens out with a complex ginger spiciness wrapped up with the oaky/cereal whole. Develops a malty chocolatey side with a malty waxy & dry heathery mouthfeel on the turn. This is quite something. Hard to think of anything currently available that is on par with this, style-wise. F: Again, it’s the taste of the oak character which appeals, just as I picked up the first time I tried this at the beginning of 2017. We’ve more herbal treacle liqueur notes and crystalised ginger with more of that lovely oakiness at the death, the vanilla wafer thin, softened with many years of age. Later, I discover lots more mouthfeel curiosities & subtle finishing action. Distinctively Loch Lomond-y in style. C: I’d not picked up on the six month sherry finish at all. For me it’s predominantly ’oak’ matured, with neither the two main bourbon or sherry camps blatantly featuring - how refreshingly. Tastes like there’s plenty of older casks in here, the whole lot from refills I imagine. No doubt the present cask management and profile therefore will change once this batch is exhausted, so get in their soon with your order if you’re going to. For me, this is one of the most distinctive modern malts i’ve come across in a number of years. I predict it will be Ralfy’s whisky of the year for 2017.Scores a B[+]