Glen Scotia has released the fourth expression in its Icons of Campbeltown series, a five-part collection now on its penultimate release. The series takes its stories from the carvings on Campbeltown’s 14th century market cross, a monument thick with saints and beasts who habve watched over the town for centuries.
Release No.4 celebrates the Griffin, half eagle and half lion, said in local lore to have stood guard over the harbour and, by extension, the whisky made there. It is a fitting subject for a town that once produced more Scotch than anywhere else in the world. Finished in Vin Santo which is a Tuscan dessert wine, traditionally made from grapes dried on straw mats before pressing, then age in small casks known as caratelli. That slow, oxidative process concentrates a honeyed, nutty sweetness the casks carry over well into whisky maturation, and it shows here in notes of dried apricot and sultana, with toasted almond, hazelnut and a trace of cinnamon layered over Glen Scotia’s coastal salt. The box artwork again comes from illustrator Joel Holtzman, continuing the series’ visual thread from the first three releases.
Images by Grant Anderson
Ashley Smith, master blender at Glen Scotia, said: “Our small town has so many exceptional stories to tell, and The Icons of Campbeltown series brings this incredible folklore to life. The Griffin stood watch over Campbeltown for hundreds of years, and that’s exactly how I think of our distillery team, as the guardians of Glen Scotia’s whisky. Every cask that leaves here has been shaped by people protecting a character that has come to be loved all over the world, through skill built up over generations. For this release, I wanted a cask that would truly complement that character, so we finished the whisky in Vin Santo casks. They’ve brought a honeyed sweetness and dried fruit, with toasted almond and warming cinnamon on the finish, with our distinctive coastal salt character anchoring it all.”
To mark the launch, Glen Scotia is offering the chance to win a trip to Campbeltown when purchasing Icons of Campbeltown Release No. 4 through its website. During this once in a lifetime experience, the winner will meet the team, the guardians of Glen Scotia, explore the distillery, taste the whisky in the place that shaped it, and discover the people, craftsmanship and community spirit behind the town’s big Campbeltown character where it was born.
Glen Scotia Icons of Campbeltown Release No.4 is bottled at 53.8% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural in colour, priced at £80 and available now from Glen Scotia and specialist retailers in the UK and globally.
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