Glen Scotia has debuted its Campbeltown Malts Festival release for 2021, which this year takes the form of a 10 Year Old Limited Edition Single Malt with a Bordeaux red wine cask finish.
The expression has been created under the watchful eye of Distillery Manager and Master Distiller Iain McAlister, using a series of exclusively unpeated distillations from 2009 to 2011, before being matured in first fill bourbon barrels. The casks have then been vatted together before finishing in hand-selected first fill Bordeaux red wine casks from the Medoc region, for a period of five months.
The Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival 2021 Limited Edition has been bottled at cask strength and is non-chilled filtered. With an ABV of 56.1%, the expression offers notes of classic fruits and spices.
On the nose, the scent of crushed red berries can be detected, along with floral notes of rose and violet, heather honey and a maritime breeze. On the palate, there is a honeyed sweetness with vibrant strawberry and apple, toasted vanilla, and a hint of lime citrus. The finish is long, with the warming spice of cinnamon and aniseed.
The Campbeltown Malts Festival is an annual event that celebrates Scotland’s fifth and smallest whisky region. Once home to over 30 distilleries, Campbeltown is recognised as the “whiskiest” place in the world. As with last year’s event, due to the ongoing pandemic the festival will be hosted virtually and will take place online beginning June 7, 2021.
Last year, the virtual Scotch festival was extremely well received, with Glen Scotia’s program of online festival events attracting more than 10,000 whisky fans from across the world.
Iain McAlister, Distillery Manager and Master Distiller at Glen Scotia, said: “The release of our Glen Scotia Festival Limited Edition have become a keenly awaited fixture on our calendar, and I’m very confident that this year’s expression won’t disappoint. The 2021 Campbeltown Malts Festival Limited Edition perfectly encapsulates Glen Scotia’s signature style, taking influence from both its rich history and coastal location, while the deliciously warming flavours from the Bordeaux casks add a unique twist to this exceptional single malt. I’m confident that this expression will sit proudly in any whisky lover’s collection.
“The Campbeltown Malts Festival is the highlight of our events calendar, and although we are disappointed that the festival can’t go ahead in its physical form as we had hoped, we are really looking forward to celebrating the whiskiest place in the world once again with our fans across the world as they join us online, whilst raising a dram to Campbeltown.”
In November, Glen Scotia unveiled a 30 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The new offering from the Campbeltown distillery is extremely rare, with only 500 bottles being made available for purchase worldwide.