Glen Scotia 8 Year Peated PX Cask Finish
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke in early 2020, one of its countless casualties was the shuttering of events to help minimize the spread of infection. The 2022 Campbeltown Malts Festival was the first one to be held since 2019 and like many other whisky festivals, special bottlings were released to mark the occasion. While Campbeltown only currently maintains three operating distilleries within the region and thus does not have quite the footprint as, say, the Feis Ile, the enthusiasm of all attendees and participants more than makes up for it. Glen Scotia was founded in 1832 by Stewart & Galbraith and Company. It has passed through several owners over the centuries and was most recently purchased by the Loch Lomond Group in 2014. While there are currently five core expressions, the Glen Scotia 8 Year Peated PX Cask Finish was matured for seven and a half years in American first fill bourbon barrels before spending another year finishing in Pedro Ximénez hogsheads.
Stauning Smoke
Stauning was founded in 2005 by nine friends who wanted to make exceptinoal whisky in Denmark, specically usng local grains like rye and barley and using small copper pot stills (currently 24 of them). 100% of the grain is floor-malted at the distillery and no coloring or chill filtering is used. While the distillery has two decades of experience now, and a variety of core offerings to showcase, their global footprint has only expanded in recent years through additional funding from spirits conglomerate Diageo. Their only single malt is the Stauning Smoke, sourced from two Danish farms and lightly peated. The barley is kiln dried using local peat and heather and is meant to evoke a West Coast Danish terroir; matured in first-fill bourbon barrels, first-fill fortified wine and spirits casks, and heavy charred new American white oak barrels.
Jura 18 Year
The island of Jura may only have one pub and one road, but it also has one distillery. Founded in 1810, Jura has held on amidst the tides of time to survive into the present, indelibly stamped on the island landscape and community. While the island is difficult to reach even today, the distillery continues to take the waters from Market Loch and feed it into some of the tallest stills in Scotland. The height and width enable greater contact with copper during distillation. The core range relaunched in 2018 and now composes a 12, 14 and this 18 year scotch. The Jura 18 is matured in American ex-bourbon casks before being finished in Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux red wine barriques from Southern France.