Glen Scotia 46yo

There are many indications that the Glen Scotia distillery has successfully stepped out of the shadow of its notorious Campbeltown rival, Springbank, and has broken through in many Scotch malt whisky aficionados to become one of the top favorite Scotch malt whisky producers. The Loch Lomond Group-owned distillery has just announced the debut of the oldest edition ever bottled under its brand name.

Glen Scotia 46yo is a whisky that was initially matured in bourbon refill casks, in which it spent an impressive 36 years. In 2011, their contents were transferred to first-fill barrels, also bourbon, for another 10 years.

According to the manufacturer, Glen Scotia 46yo is a beverage whose bouquet features accents of dried fruits, citrus peels, toffee, sea breeze and fresh vanilla. On the palate we should be able to sense notes of brown sugar, golden caramel, baked apples, compote pears, vanilla syrup and oranges.

The whisky was bottled in its natural form, with a strength of 41.7% vol., limited to 150 bottles, luxury edition. Each bottle is individually numbered, and offered in an extremely decorative oak box. The price of each is £6,750.

Glen Scotia was founded in 1832 as Scotia. It changed its name to Glen Scotia with another change of ownership in 1930. In 1984, the distillery suffered the same fate as many other distilleries across Scotland - a crisis of overproduction forced the then owners to close the plant. Glen Scotia, however, was luckier than at least Glen Albyn, St. Magdalene or Kinclaith. Five years later it became part of Gibson International and resumed production, although not for long either. It was not until Loch Lomond Distillers took over in 1999 that the distillery marked a period of growth and increasing prosperity. In 2012, the manufacturer's extensive new core range was launched, and the following years saw the expansion of both the range with new editions, including limited editions, and a significant increase in the popularity of Glen Scotia. Today it is one of the more recognizable and increasingly popular Scotch whisky distilleries.

Glen Scotia is one of the smaller Scotch whisky distilleries. The two alembics on which its operations are based give it a maximum possible capacity of about 800,000 liters of pure alcohol per year, a figure comparable to the production capacity of the Springbank mentioned at the outset. The same is true of a third Campbeltown distillery, Glengyle. This shows conclusively that the total supply of whiskey from the entire region is almost symbolic, and can be compared with the production of a single medium-sized distillery in other regions. For example, Bowmore on Islay produces as much whiskey as the entire Campbeltown region. If this volume is juxtaposed with the exponentially growing popularity of whisky from the region, it is hardly surprising that Campbeltown whisky, which in many cases even sells out on the stump, is not easy to come by. Nor is the enthusiasm of investors surprising, two of whom have recently announced plans to launch more malt whisky plants in the town that was once the capital of Scotch whisky, boasting more than thirty whisky factories.

Despite a relatively small supply of Campbeltown whisky, the House of Whisky Online has in its permanent offerings at least a few editions of Glen Scotia. We encourage you to visit our store and get acquainted with its offer.


[29.03.2022 / photo: Glen Scotia]