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| Excellent Photo : @jwbassman_ |
This is a robust, cask strength, lightly peated Campbeltown dram.
There are actually three different versions of Victoriana around, all at different ABVs, but due to being small releases you can probably only get hold of the most recent.
I asked Glen Scotia's Master Blender Michael Henry where the idea for Victoriana came from : "The basic idea I planned from the start - a combination of ages, some peat finished in PX and heavy char. I have been adjusting proportions and timings with each batch so it is still a work in progress!"
Michael explained the recipe for Victoriana : "The base liquid is 70% 10yo first fill bourbon, 10% 10-12yo peated first fill bourbon and 20% 16-18yo refill American oak hogsheads."
The whisky is then vatted and finished "in 70% heavy charred American oak barrels and 30% 1st fill PX for 12 months before being married in refill bourbon for 3-6 months. The finishing is done in batches, so batches were combined ie as a batch was coming to an end it was combined with next full batch. The original release was bottled at 51.5%. Batch 001 was a single batch, not combined with any other and bottled at cask strength of 54.8%. Cask Strength release are bottled at 54.2% and batches will be combined for consistency between batches."
I asked why the numbering of batches had stopped "The batch release was something we tried to make each batch more individual however we experienced push back from some markets and distributors. Each time the batch number and strength changed they would have to re register the product with govt agencies or if they produced an annual catalogue it wasn't able to feature. Also it gave issues in some markets that viewed a strength change as a new product so had to go through full regulatory registration again. By keeping the cask strength consistent we could keep the higher abv we wanted and avoid product registration issues "
Michael then told me that Victoriana was his "favourite Glen Scotia expression - the mouthfeel from the heavy char finish is the highlight", so let's see what we thought:
Original Victoriana : 51.5% ABV, first released in 2015.
We thought this had masses of vanilla, toffee and a hint of smoke on the nose with the high ABV attacking the nose immediately! Some tropical fruit notes and a lovely sweetness developing over time. It arrived on the palate as a thick almost syrupy liquid, loads of sweet tropical fruit notes, some lovely gingery spice and again the hint of smoke. Some seaweed notes developed with later sips. The finish was again a lovely balance of tropical fruit sweetness and spice. A rare and interesting fact that most of the notes flowed through from nose, and plate to finish.
Batch 001 : 54.8% ABV, released in 2018.
Very similar to the original but the slightly higher ABV gave an added complexity. The tropical fruit notes were toned down a little, spice turned up a little, the smoke and seaweed is there but in the background.This was a much more balanced dram, a high ABV easy sipper to enjoy slowly, discussing it's merits with friends!
Cask Strength : 54.2% ABV, released from 2019 onwards.Unfortunately the other guys didn't have a sample of this, I'd only just received one from a swap with @JasonGilluley so I added it to my little tasting set! At the time of writing this was the current unnumbered 'batch' coming in at 54.2% so just under Batch 001.
For me this one just hit the sweet spot - the smoke was a little more prominent than the previous two, the maritime notes also dialed up a little. Overall a perfectly balanced cask strength peated Campbeltown dram - what more could you want?
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| Original, Batch 001 and Cask Strength |
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