Review 100 - 7th February 2020

This review marks the celebration of the 1st Year anniversary of Whisky Resource and our 100th numbered review (Ok we have more reviews than that).

Thinking about how we could celebrate we thought we would look back at the highest scoring whisky we have reviewed so far, the 2020 Campbeltown Malts Festival Tawy Port Finish from Glen Scotia, if you haven't see the original review it is available here, we score this amazing whisky 91 out of 100, achieving a value score of 96 out of 100. While some whiskies have come close, nothing seems to better the jammy maritime influence of the Tawny finished single malt.

However, we thought it was fitting to pitch this awesome dram against its siblings, the Glen Scotia 2018 Ruby Port Finish and the Glen Scotia 2019 Rum Finish, both bottlings for the Campbeltown Malt Festival for their respective years.
This review looks at the 2018 Ruby Port, if you want to skip to the 2019 Rum Finish, follow the link.

The Glen Scotia Ruby Port is vintage 2008, that is, all the casks that were used and vatted for this bottling were distilled in 2008, making this a 10 year old single malt, initially matured in 1st fill ex-bourbon casks, it was finished for 6 months in ruby port casks. Bottled at 57.8% ABV, it is non chill filtered and natural colour. When this was released it was on sale for around £49.95, which, when those details are entered into our value score calculator, gives this single malt a value score of 100 out of 100, this represents the best possible value for a whisky, the only attribute missing is short of being a single cask offering.

On the nose the Ruby Port, this starts with huge brine and a stormy maritime peat note, a classic component of the Campbeltown characteristic funk. The peat is sweet with a fantastic red berry fruit note and a citrus vanilla cream. It is a fantastic nose, which can be enjoyed for quite sometime before starting to taste. There is a definite alcohol presence, reminding you this is a high strength spirit, maybe a reflection of a little youthfulness, however, it is in no way distracting. When comparing the three, the ruby port does have a touch more sulphur present on the nose, but we don't find it off putting, it's not rotten eggs.

On the palate; It has a luxurious velvety oily moathcoating feel, its fruity with summer red berries like raspberry and some blackberry. It is spicy and peppery with a little alcohol nip. The peat is sweet and runs from the start to the finish on this expression which ends with a wiff of smoke. The sweetness isn't so much honey more a syrup or sugar. This dram is like standing on a pebble beach on a stormy day with sea spray lashing your face, while a fire is smoldering out from a recently bbq of kippers and smoked berries.

After a tasting the three, the Ruby does show more tannins which add a little bit of pleasant astringency.

For an overall score, the Ruby shines on both the nose and the palate, so we give it the highest score to date of 92 out of 100.
Maybe the score has been slighly influenced by the effort in trying to track down a bottle so long after it was released, then finding a second bottle (And we don't buy from auction), but that adds to the enjoyment of the whisky and makes is so much more personal and memorable.

But on another day we could repeat this tasting and a different one of the trilogy would come out top. One thing that is certain, we can not wait for the 2021 Glen Scotia Malt Festival to be revealed and obtained.