Glen Scotia with a teaspoon of Springbank. Or at least I’m told that’s what were finding in this new Hogshead Indie release! This 8 years old Hogshead Blended Campeltown aims to bring the magic of Campbeltown to your glass. But the question is, does this blend live up to the Campbeltown hype?
Doing these tasting notes blind gave me an entirely different approach to this dram. Instead of looking for that familiar Campbeltown funk, I found my focus shifting to whatever first came to mind. And for this whisky I thought I got some lighter notes that reminded me of a Single Grain.
In fact, my guess was that this whisky was a Lowland Grain (I had put my money on Girvan), with a funky finish (port) and bottled at 55%. Though I did get something funky… it definitely wasn’t that Campbeltown funk. Bottled at 8 years old, at 48% ABV, this Hogshead Blended Campbeltown surely did surprise me though!
(Blind) Tasting Notes: Hogshead Blended Campbeltown
Stats:
Distillery: Glen Scotia (and a teaspoons of Springbank)
Age: 8 years old
Bottler: Hogshead Indie
ABV: 48%
Chill-Filtered: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Nose:
Vanilla, honey and plenty of malt. The nose of this dram makes me think of honey oats! Paired with some lime zest, fennel and a hint of aniseed.
Palate:
Even more honey than on the nose, paired with a lovely little jalapeno pepper note. Some rum raisins appear as well after you swirl it a bit longer in your mouth and the mouthfeel is pleasantly sticky, like fruit jelly.
Finish:
The finish is a bit shorter than the previous dram, but still of medium length. Notes of blackberries, strawberry marmalade and peach cobbler seem to stick around for quite some time and I love this evolution into a sweeter and fruitier side!
