Glen Scotia The Mermaid

After three years of autumnal Seasonal Releases @GlenScotiaMalts have changed tack and have started a new series based on the town's famous Cross - Icons of Campbeltown.

This year is all about the Mermaid, let's find out a little more!

Standing at the bottom of Main Street in Campbeltown, next to the Royal Hotel / Black Sheep Pub and the Harbour Quay is Campbeltown Cross.

It's a medieval carving, with Celtic designs, dating from around 1375. Made of blueish-green schist, probably quarried near Loch Sween. The Cross is 3.3m high with the largest disc-head of any known cross in Scotland at 81cm.

One face depicts St. Mary and St. John below a pair of other saints. On the left arm of the cross is St. Michael slaying a dragon, on the other is a simple foliage design. The reverse of the cross has a mermaid and sea-monster at the top, with a pair of peculiar animals on each side arm.

The cross was erected at Kilkivan Chapel on a hillside, west of Campbeltown just before Machrihanish. Kilkivan was named after St Kevin, an Irish saint and abbot of Glendalough in County Wicklow.

The cross was moved to Campbeltown in the early to mid 1600's after the reformation. Originally it stood on Main Street outside the Town Hall, but it was taken down for safety during the Second World War and afterwards re-erected in it's present location.

Glen Scotia have used some of the iconography of the cross as the theme for their new five part limited edition annual series ‘The Icons of Campbeltown’,  it's a

"celebration of the Campbeltown community that ensured Glen Scotia prevailed through history. Taking our inspiration from the Campbeltown Market Cross – a historic community meeting point for celebration and storytelling, with a series of saints and beasts carved into its stone face – each release recalls a tale of local community spirit. Glen Scotia has partnered with celebrated artist, Joel Holtzman to bring each of the icons to life.

In Release 1, over a subtly maritime dram, we recall the community sighting of a mermaid on our local shores. To pay homage to this special event, we have selected an equally special Palo Cortado sherry cask finishing to compliment this unpeated coastal and saline cask strength spirit. The selection and finishing of each whisky in this remarkable new series is inspired by an individual Icon from the cross.

Glen Scotia’s whisky is shaped by its coastal climate, and whether real or just the result of a dram too many, mermaid sightings along our coast are an unnervingly reoccurring theme, especially in the 1800’s when distilling in town was growing to new heights. To mark this first release, we have selected a subtly coastal, floral and delicate unpeated twelve-year-old single malt whisky, and finished it in Palo Cortado sherry casks - a rare choice almost as special as mermaids."

The distillery's marketing team have pieced together historical information which detailed local sightings of mermaids along the coast and Iain McAlister and his team have crafted a whisky whose flavour profile would pay homage to this maritime myth. It is based on the story of a sighting which was told by various community members and, in particular, local townsman John McIsaac. He tells of a two-hour encounter with a half-human, half-amphibious being which took place on a cold October night in 1811, and which remains one of the most recounted and least contested mermaid sightings on record.

This first release, 'The Mermaid', is a 12yo unpeated single malt matured in ex-bourbon barrels followed by an 8 month finish in ex-Palo Cortado casks before being bottled at 54.1% ABV, natural colour without chill filtration.  The result is "a whisky with a sweet and nutty character with subtle maritime nuances, and a signature Glen Scotia saltiness on the palate."

Let see what the distillery say:

                

Distillery notes:

Aged for 12 years, The Mermaid captures the essence of our coastal climate:

Aroma: Rich, mellow and slightly drying. Maritime salt crystals, boat varnish, edible seaweed. Thick fruity Tarte Tatin, Dundee Seville marmalade and tablet toffee.

Taste: A creamy texture, lightly sweet centre palate glazed with French apple tart and a pinch of salt.

Finish: Long and warming with a savoury aftertaste and spicy finish. 

“This is a splendid example of Glen Scotia. The ex-bourbon barrels have masked its key-note (maritime) distillery character, while the Palo Cortado finishing casks have rounded off the whisky and given it depth, without introducing any obvious sherry flavours. It drinks perfectly well at natural strength.” – Charles Maclean 

Let's see what it's like....

My thoughts:

  

Info: 12yo, 54.1% ABV, Natural colour, NCF, c14,000 bottles

Appearance: Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line of beads which fall as slow thin oily legs.

Nose: Glen Scotia DNA maritime salinity and  seaweed. There's baked apples stuffed with raisins drizzled in honey and smothered in vanilla custard. There's forest floor pine needles, a little second hand bookshop mustiness and some marzipan. It all rounds off with a dollop of thick cut orange marmalade. I know it' says unpeated but I would swear there some peat smoke in here too?

Palate: Thick sweet oily arrival, loads of orange zest, seaweed and honey. It's immediately drying- the Palo Cortado finish coming through. Lots of salinity and huge spice notes of pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. There's some tropical fruit notes: pineapple, kiwi and banana; with the baked apple pudding from the nose also coming through on the palate - the raisins, caramel and vanilla are all back. The tongue is left dry and spice coated as the liquid disappears. Yummy! 

Finish: Long lingering dry spice, salinity and honey sweetness with some orange zest and again that hint of smoke.

 

Overall: This is typical Glen Scotia unpeated DNA - salinity, tropical fruit and dry spice. A lovely dram showcasing what's great about the Wee Toon's best distillery! There's no need to add water, the 54.1% ABV is so well integrated - it's liquid gold on the tongue!

The only downside is the price - it's shot up a bit here - the Seasonal Releases were £65, £75 and £80, this first Icons release is £90. Are we paying for the story rather than the whisky? 

Geeky stuff:

This isn't the first Glen Scotia bottling named after the Cross, there was a series for the European market called Vintage Release:

No. 1 : Campbeltown Harbour

No. 2 : Crosshill Loch

No. 3 : Campbeltown Cross