Every year at our Glen Scotia Malts Festival, we introduce innovative, engaging and fun tasting events for you to participate in and enjoy, whilst learning more about our fantastic whiskies. This year is no different. Our Visitor Experience Manager and Global Brand Ambassador, Gary Mills, will be hosting our Deconstructed Festival sessions at our Open Day on Wednesday 21st May. During these sessions we will explore this year’s highly anticipated Campbeltown Malts Festival Limited Edition whisky.
A Taste of Something Unique
We spoke with Gary ahead of the Glen Scotia Malts Festival to ask him more about these unique tasting sessions. We asked Gary, "What can guests expect when they take part in the Deconstructed Festival Tasting?"
This years Campbeltown Malts Festival release is a 9 year old heavily peated whisky finished in Ribera del Duero red wine casks. For the Deconstructed Festival tastings we will be sampling the component parts - heavily peated Glen Scotia whisky from first fill bourbon casks to examine the characteristics and flavour profile before sampling some Ribera del Duero wine. We will then finish with a dram of the release itself, hopefully with a better understanding of what each of the components has brought to another wonderful Malts Festival release!
"What makes Glen Scotia’s peated whisky special, and why is it only made for a few weeks each year?"
Whilst the Campbeltown region was historically a peated whisky producing region up until the 1920s, it is now more known for its unpeated liquids. Glen Scotia produces peated whiskies for 4 weeks of the year with a very small amount going into some of the core range (adding a background spice rather than smoke!). The vast majority of the peated liquid is kept for Limited Edition releases like the Campbeltown Malts Festival release.
"Was there anything surprising about using a wine finish for this years Festival Release?"
I am always excited to find out what finishing casks are being used for the Campbeltown Malts Festival release as it has historically been my favourite release each year! Red wines can be challenging but I feel that our whisky making team have worked their magic again bringing the bold red fruit flavours of the Ribera del Duero to balance the dusty peat smoke and wonderful Campbeltown salinity.
We had to ask Gary what his favourite part about hosting events like this at the Campbeltown Malts Festival was, and his response was no surprise!
"Its the people that attend the various events throughout the town that make the festival such a special event and I love to meet friends old and new from all over the world! It puts such a big smile on my face seeing the town full to the brim of people enjoying the company and the whiskies."
Don’t miss this unforgettable journey through bold and exceptional flavours, trying something truly different from Glen Scotia. We have very limited tickets remaining for these sessions on Wednesday 21st May, more information can be found here - Deconstructed Festival Tasting - Glen Scotia
Big Campbeltown Character, with a twist
Our Festival Edition 2025 is a perfect example of a modern flavour twist on our classic, but we ensure our Glen Scotia roots and flavours remain through all of our releases. Gary was asked how Glen Scotia’s whisky reflects Campbeltown’s history and character, he said,
"Every single malt released by Glen Scotia will always have the regional style and character at its core. The techniques and equipment used in Campbeltown distilleries is very traditional with even the more modern pieces built in traditional materials and designs. This means that Campbeltown malts have a distinct flavour profile – oily mouthfeel with a background spice, bags of vanilla and a hint of sea salt throughout."
If you can't join us in Campbeltown for the Glen Scotia Malts Festival, you don't need to miss out, you can purchase this years Festival Release whisky online now - Campbeltown Malts Festival Edition 2025 | Glen Scotia - Glen Scotia
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