The Glen Scotia Distillery recently introduced its 2023 Festival release, a limited-edition bottling to mark the Campbeltown Malts Festival this May.
The yearly event, slated for May 23rd and 24th, is hosted in the distillery’s hometown to celebrate the region’s storied history.
A statement from Glen Scotia notes that in keeping with its whisky traditions for its annual global release, this year’s 11-Year-Old lightly peated single malt was finished for a year in white port casks.
The distiller’s notes show that this expression features spiced stone fruit flavors, fragrant prune and fig notes, and a sandalwood spice. It blends with a soft smoke and a hint of sea salt.
For this release, Glen Scotia packaged the whisky embossed with a QR code, giving those unable to make the trip to the ‘Victorian Whisky Capital’ a chance to transport themselves into the heart of the distillery for a unique new digital experience.
The statement explained that this digital experience is led by spirits writer, TV presenter, and OurWhisky Founder, Becky Paskin. The virtual video experiment, shot in the dunnage warehouse and around the town, takes viewers on a sensory exploration, intentionally manipulating sight, color, and sound, as Becky guides audiences to pour a dram and consider how its flavor is influenced by visuals and music in the experience.
In the video, she’s joined by Glen Scotia master distiller and distillery manager, Iain McAlister, as the pair take a walk through the distinctive Campbeltown landscape. The project follows Becky and Iain’s Whisky Experiment in-person at last year’s Malts Festival.
This 2023 limited-edition release clocks in at 54.7% ABV and is available to purchase online and in specialist retailers around the world. The 70cl bottle retails for £65.
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McAlister said that this year’s Festival Release is “another superb, limited-edition that showcases the scope of what Glen Scotia can offer; the white port cask finish provides something interesting and different for us, while still maintaining that wonderful fruity, robust, and subtly saline Campbeltown signature profile.”
Becky Paskin said that the idea behind the Glen Scotia Whisky Experiment is guided by the way the sense of taste is dictated by the environment people are in. “So, what we taste in our glass will be affected by our setting, and Campbeltown is a fantastic place to recreate. This is a chance to rip up the rule book on traditional whisky tasting notes, have an open mind, and find new possibilities, which is the most exciting part – drams can be completely re-imagined.”
The Campbeltown Malts Festival is a celebration of the region and its illustrious past, as well as the role whisky-making has played in the town for more than 200 years.
For more information on this year’s event, check out www.glenscotia.com/pages/whisky-festival.
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