EYE / NOSE
Amber. Very fine, reddish tinge. Then the scent from the nosing glass wafts towards me. Dirty, impure, so the very first associations. Is it sulfur or a tannic note from the Tawny barrels? Sulfur in such a festival bottling? Hardly likely. On the other hand, the smoke is barely noticeable - what phenol content does GS still use? In the air, the somewhat dirty impression quickly diminishes. Freshly uncorked bottles are always such a thing. Then comes a berry sweetness. Red currant juice - but for children's taste, mixed with plenty of sugar.

PALATE
The alcohol is very well integrated, I notice very positive in view of the barrel strength. The malt looks round and ripe, not as youthfully impetuous as the powerful Ruby Port, but not quite as elegant as the Rum Wood last year. The character somewhere in the (golden) middle. Very pleasant mouthfeel, slight tingling on the tip of the tongue. A clean, fresh and quite fruity malt with a balanced, nutty port sweetness, without great sperenzien, which is wonderful to drink. Nuances of spices that I associate most with pastries. A hint of cinnamon, a little green cardamom, that describes the direction. Amazingly 'light' body, which I note in the overall view as extremely positive. You like to take a second sip on the sunny terrace, almost too much.

FINISH / CONCLUSION
In the finish, which is very warm, velvety and sweet, the great hour of phenols strikes. The wood becomes palpable - noble bitterness struggles in a balanced struggle with fruit sweetness and the smoky peat influences. Towards the end the tawny then becomes wonderfully chalky, slightly grassy and a little dry. To see none of the perfume-like off-notes that sometimes plague Glen Scotia bottlings. Iain McAlister and the small Glen Scotia team did a good job. Glen Scotia will always be in the shadow of the spring bench icon and yet the ugly duckling under Ian has gradually become a little swan.

A peated whisky was composed here from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 distilleries of the Glen Scotia distillery, which can now be described as a 14-year-old malt. It was developed in refill american oak hogsheads, medium charred american oak barrels and in first fill bourbon barrels. Then there was a finish in first fill Tawny Port hogsheads and the whisky was bottled at 52.8 vol% without coloring and cooling filtration in cask strength.

The nose is better than the palate. It reminds me of a Springbank on the nose. I'm thinking of the 15 rechar sherry (USA release), but that is in another league from this. Just a few superficial but noteworthy similarities. The nose sets me up for high expectations, which fall in the mouth (the opposite of the Springbank rechar sherry, which champions through on the palate). The tawny seems almost raisin like on the palate, with a date thing happening. A bit musty as well. Dunnage-y, which is not a bad thing, but to an extent that seems to muffle the sweeter notes. I would say it falls a bit flat at cask strength as well. A drop of water opens it up nicely. Still, I miss that sting on my tongue that extends the finish through a torturous pleasure. No, I'm not into that sort of thing, ha. But in the case of this whisky, cask strength equals long berry note on tongue. The berry note is believable, as well, and not fake as though a Jolly Rancher nightmare. I hate Jolly Rancher candies, which exude offensive chemical effluvium rather than a foodie feeling. This berry note is like a cross between a raspberry and a strawberry. Very nice. There's an interplay of new leather, wet sand, and rhubarb pie filling. I suggest leaving this dram uncovered for about five minutes before getting into it. The oxygen does it good, at least until the bottle is below one third down.

Strawberries, Cherries & Raspberries
The festival was cancelled, but the festival bottling certainly hit the market with no less than 15.000 bottles. You can find it left and right for around 70 EUR. It’s a 14 years old Glen Scotia that matured on Tawny Port casks, which explains the color. I’m looking forward to this.
The nose makes me happy from the very first moment. Lovely, round notes of red fruit (strawberries, cherries and raspberries) with some peach, vanilla and bubblegum on the one hand, the typical dirty peat of the house on the other. The smoke becomes very big all of a sudden, but retreats just as quickly. Evolves from sweet to salty with some green garden herbs in the middle. There is a lot going on here and it’s all good.
The arrival is quite piquant, but the structure is silky soft. The peat is much more outspoken than on the nose and easily overpowers the red fruit. Salted caramel and nougat appear, while the tannins also kick in and offer up a bitter touch. Midpalate a big maritime hint appears. Ship’s ropes and chewing tobacco. This is very good!
The finish is the trump card. Long, warm and peppery with a sudden death of menthol.
This Glen Scotia on Tawny Port is a whole other league than the one on Ruby Port from two years ago. Impressive.

Ah, a magic word on the label: PEATED.

More information from Brian: https://malt-musings.blogspot.com/2020/04/more-tawny-port-from-glen-scotia.html?m=1

Earthy, fall leaves and dried berries. Smokey finish. Raspberry coulis, cayenne, minerals, gravel, sweet, but not overly so. Drying finish with raspberries and cayenne. A fine example of the style.