Glen Scotia 16 Years Old (46%, OB, 2012)

• Glen Scotia Distillery
• Loch Lomond Group
• 46% ABV
• £49.33
• Score: 84/100

What they say:

Bourbon Cask matured, non-chill filtered.

Official tasting notes:

Colour:

Lemon Tea

Body:

Deeper with subtle spice

Nose:

Initially sweet toasted malt, digestive biscuits and honey followed by oak and a hint of cedar.

What I say:

hmm.. A step up in colour and jump from 12 Years Old to 16 Years Old. Released in 2012, so to be 16 years old this must have been distilled in 1996 right? Wrong! Possibly? Glen Scotia was reportedly mothballed/inactive from 1994-1999. As we mentioned on the 12 Years Old, anything produced in 1999 and bottled 2012 can only be 12 Years Old so by my math this must have been distilled in 1994 and bottled in 2010 before being released in 2012 at 16 Years Old [phew!?]

Colour:

Rich amber gold (9/20), thick and oily tears

Nose:

Rich and buttery, hazelnut paste or marzipan almost, vanilla, some lemon zest and lemon mouse or lemon meringue pie, oak wood shavings, gristy cereal barley malt and honey

Taste:

Oily, rich, lemon barley sugars, lemon meringue pie, almond tart or tarte tatin, pineapple upside-down cake and syrup, becomes nutty and salty and thins a little to become spicy like fine-ground cinnamon and nutmeg, drying and powdery

Finish:

Medium-long, rich and spicy, ginger and lemon (toddy)

Overall:

Much richer and more complex than the 12 Years Old – this one was redolent with ‘baked’ flavours and desserts – definite improvements in flavour and palate match the colour change – again suggestive of older stock perhaps?