More Tawny Port from Glen Scotia!

As you may possibly have heard I have a little thing for Glen Scotia and another little thing for Tawny Port finished whisky - put them together and it's a match made in heaven!

So imagine my reaction when I heard that the the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2020 release would be a Tawny Port finished whisky!

What's Tawny Port?

Wikipedia tells us that Port is:

Photo: Taylors

"Produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region of Portugal. The wine produced is then fortified by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente to stop the fermentation, leaving residual sugar in the wine, and to boost the alcohol content. The fortification spirit is sometimes referred to as brandy, but it bears little resemblance to commercial brandies. The wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a Lodge (meaning "cellar") as is the case in Vila Nova de Gaia, before being bottled. The wine received its name, "port", in the latter half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe."

Port comes in a wide range of ages and colours but there are two main types - Ruby and Tawny with a defined difference:

Ruby is matured in large sealed tanks or bottles, the lack of oxygen creates a wine which is smoother on the palate and less tannic - it also loses its colour more slowly. The port usually has a bright red color and full-bodied fruitiness which is fined and cold filtered before bottling. Some premium rubies are aged in wood for up to 6 years.

Photo: Taylors

Tawny is matured in oak casks whose permeability allows an exposure to oxygen and a  loss of colour at a faster pace. Like whisky tawny ports lose angel's share due to evaporation leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous. The port has a mellow golden-brown colour with nutty flavours- they are sweet or medium dry and typically consumed as a dessert wine. Most Tawny Ports are aged for at least 7 years, some as long at 40 or 50.

What's the Campbeltown Festival?

Each year, in May, the distilleries in Campbeltown,the whiskiest place in the world, hold a Malts Festival, this year would have been the 12th.

Although not always the best of friends(!) the three Campbeltown distilleries Glengyle, Glen Scotia and Springbank work together to put on an amazing festival, but due to the coronavirus, like most events, it's had to be cancelled this year.

Luckily for us this hasn't stopped Glen Scotia distillery bottling their Campbeltown Malts Festival release - and guess what it's a Tawny Port Cask Finished whisky!


The box, like some other Glen Scotia boxes, features a great drawing of the whiskiest place in the world - Campbeltown.

Michael Henry, Glen Scotia & Loch Lomond's Master Blender, told me that unlike previous releases this year's is an aged rather than vintage release, it's also the most highly peated Glen Scotia they have released in the UK at around 40ppm.

The whisky is a combination of 2004 and 2005 Heavily Peated (c70% 40-50ppm) and 2006 Medium Peated (c30% 20-25ppm) spirits vatted together giving an average ppm for the malted barley of just under 40ppm.

In comparison the next peatiest (is that a word?) Glen Scotia whiskies are Double Cask and the 15yo at around 15ppm and Victoriana at around 10ppm.

The 2004 HP spirit was matured in refill ex-bourbon oak, the 2005 HP spirit in recharred ex-bourbon oak and the 2006 MP in 1st fill ex-bourbon oak. These were then vatted together and filled into 1st fill Tawny Port hogsheads for 7 months before bottling.

Distillery info:

The Glen Scotia ‘Tawny Port’ Festival Edition is a peated Campbeltown Malt that has been matured in a mix of refill American hogsheads, medium char American oak and first fill bourbon barrels before being finished in first fill Tawny Port hogsheads and then bottled at cask strength 52.8% ABV. 

Finished for 7 months in first fill Tawny Port Hogsheads, this truly limited edition has a perfectly balanced combination of Campbeltown maritime influence with soft smoky peat and blackberries from the Tawny Port influence.

Nose : Blackberry, floral notes of rose and ocean spray. 

Palate : Silky mouthfeel, crisp green apple, peach syrup and vanilla with a honey sweetness. 

Finish : Gentle peat smoke with blackcurrant, raspberry and clove spice.

So let's see what it's like:

Appearance: Reddy / pinky gold in the glass, 7 months has really had an impact on the colour.
Swirls cling to the glass, beads form an inverted crown and eventually fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: Huge peat smoke and maritime salt notes - bonfire on a beach. But this beach is on a tropical island - hints of tropical fruit - pineapple and peach. A little time in the glass and the berry notes start to come through, previously masked by the smoke, a little air reveals strawberries, raspberries and some blackberries.

Palate: Wow! Typical slightly oily Glen Scotia arrival, huge sweet berry fruit notes from the nose, sea salt and then a huge wave of smoke swamps everything. Like a wave it washes away leaving a gingery spice note as the liquid disappears. A few more sips re-introduce the salt and a sour grapefruit citrus note - lovely.

Finish: There is a drying effect from the citrus as the last sip disappears, long lingering smoke and berry fruit notes in balance with a hint of the ginger spice. YUMMY!

Overall: Easily the peatiest Glen Scotia I've ever had (I've had a few!) but perfectly balanced with the sweet berry fruit notes. This is a lovey dram, the Heavily Peated and Medium Peated spirit along with the use of re-charred casks give huge smoke notes, the oily character and tropical fruit notes of the Glen Scotia spirit hasn't been swamped but it is cowering in the background. The Tawny Port finish adds the layers of sweet berries. I've not tried any water with this dram - it just doesn't need it.

Where does this rate against the magical Tawny Port Cask #413 I had from the distillery last year? (photo at the top of the blog) Well I think I'll use my last dram in that bottle for a future side-by-side. For now I'm just going to pour another one of these, sit back and enjoy it! 

Just buy a bottle. I bought mine from @RobbiesDrams here it out might be out of stock but more will be coming soon there's around 15,000 bottles!

Let's hope that the Festival gets back to normal for next year - I for one can't wait to see what Iain & Michael come out with for the next Festival bottling!

Photo: @TheWhiskyImage

Geeky stuff:

Glen Scotia - Campbeltown Malts Festival
Release	Cask type	ABV	Age
2020	14yo Peated Tawny Port Finish	52.8%	14yo
2019	2003 Peated Rum Cask Finish	51.3%	15yo
2018	2008 Peated Ruby Port Finish	57.8%	10yo

Photo: Jason Gilluley (Jason Whisky Surveyor)

As well as the Malts Festival bottling Glen Scotia also have a limited release Single Cask Festival Edition available only at the distillery.

Glen Scotia - Single Cask - Festival Edition
Release	Cask info	ABV	Age
2020 No. 005	2008 1st Fill Bourbon, Oloroso Finish Cask #7	53.9%	12yo
2019 No.004	2012 Lightly peated 1st Fill Bourbon Cask #082	59.5%	7yo
2018 No.003	2000 Cask #386	55.7%	17yo
2017 No.002	2001 Cask #554	57.1%	15yo
2016 No. 001	2001 Cask #624	56.9%	9yo