This year's Campbeltown Malts Festival Limited Edition from Glen Scotia has just been released!
This year they've gone with a Medium Peated 7yo finished in Ruby Port Casks.
Ashley Smith, Glen Scotia's Master Blender, describes it as:
"Our annual Campbeltown Malts Festival Editions are crafted for whisky lovers seeking bold character and moments of discovery. For 2026, Master Blender Ashley Smith drew on Glen Scotia’s rare peated spirit, produced for only a few weeks each year, to create a dram that honours tradition while embracing flavour exploration.
The single malt was matured in first-fill Bourbon casks for seven years, allowing our distinctive maritime character to fully unfold, before being transferred into first-fill Ruby Port casks for a six-month finish. This secondary maturation introduces layers of red berry richness - ripe cherries, blackcurrant and warming sweetness.
The first-fill Bourbon barrels bring a creamy, vanilla fudge-like sweetness, with waves of soft peat smoke intertwined with sea spray salinity. The Ruby Port finish enhances the palate with vibrant berries, mandarin brightness and blackcurrant jam. The finish lingers with smoky peat embers, gentle warming spice and that unmistakable coastal salinity."
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Distillery info:
So let's see what it's like:
In celebration of the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2026, Glen Scotia presents this vibrant 7-year-old medium peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Matured in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks before a six-month finish in first-fill Ruby Port casks, this limited edition release delivers a bold expression of our coastal character, layered with peat smoke and rich red fruit sweetness.
Cask Strength 53.9% ABV - Non Chill Filtered - Natural Colour
Nose: Opens with sweet peat, ripe red cherry and creamy vanilla fudge.
Palate: Bursting with juicy mandarin before indulgent blackcurrant jam and layers of rich smoky embers.
Finish: Warming cinnamon and clove spice, coastal salinity and lingering peat smoke.
My thoughts:
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Appearance: dark gold with a hint of pink in the Glencairn, swirls cling as a thin line and form tiny beads which fall as slow thin oily legs.
Nose: 'Thick' peat smoke, maritime salinity and a lovely sweet berry jam note. This is labelled as Medium peated but it's at the very top end of medium! There's toffee pennies, caramel wafers covered in milk chocolate and seaside pebbles. This smells really dry!
Palate: thick oily and mouth coating, sweet peat, very dry! The palate continues from the where nose left off - berry jam, caramel wafers, milk chocolate and a little honey. The 'medium' peat is dry and smoky, a little ashy. A little time and air offers grapefruit, liquorice, ginger spice and a lovely icing sugar note. Very drying as the liquid disappears.
Finish: Peat smoke, berry jam, salinity and dry peppery spice.
Overall: It's a lovely dram, robust Glen Scotia character, strong peat smoke and some lovely berry jam notes.
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Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival Editions
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| Photo by Jan Schmidtmayer |
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