On the menu today are eight Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malt Festival releases, from 2018 to 2025. The Campbeltown Malts Festival draws whisky enthusiasts to Scotland’s Kintyre Peninsula each late May. Campbeltown has an outsized legacy in whisky history – at its peak during the Victorian era, it rivalled even Speyside for production and prestige. Today, three active distilleries carry that torch: Springbank, Glen Scotia, and Glengyle. The festival brings them together with masterclasses, distillery tours, tastings, and live music, offering a genuine glimpse into what makes Campbeltown’s whiskies distinct and why the town’s distilling traditions still matter. We’ll focus on Glen Scotia today, as I own several of these Campbeltown Malts Festival yearly releases, and procured samples for the ones I didn’t have.
Glen Scotia 2008 Ruby Port Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2018) Review
We start this ’Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival retrospective’ with the first release of the series, naturally. Glen Scotia distilled this inaugural CMF expression from medium-peated malt in February 2008 and bottled it in May 2018. The peated spirit spent 10 years in first fill bourbon casks, then finished for around three to four months in first fill Ruby Port casks. This debut release produced 2,400 bottles at 57.8% ABV, with no added colouring or chill filtration. The bottles have long since sold out, so any hunt for one now must focus on the secondary market.
Colour:
Amontillado.
Nose:
Neat: The nose presents a complex mix of sweet peat and fruit, with red berries such as strawberries, cherries, and redcurrants prominent. There is also a maritime influence with salty notes, seaweed, and smoked salmon. Vanilla, tar, and a touch of floral and spices, smouldering and charred oak, along with notes of orange marmalade and dry spice.
With water: The nose opens further with more pronounced citrus and herbal elements.
Palate:
Neat: The palate is medium thick and creamy, featuring juicy and ripe summer fruits like strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, and black cherries. Sweetness from the ruby port finish shines through, balanced by salty and maritime aspects. The smoke is medium, present but balanced. Spicy notes such as cracked pepper and hints of liqueur chocolates are also present.
With water: Adding water softens the palate’s sweetness and enhances the salty, maritime balance, bringing out more complexity and subtlety.
Finish:
The finish is long and rich, maintaining fruity tart redcurrant and cranberry flavours alongside soft medicinal, smoky, and salty maritime notes. Sweetness, dark fruit, and hints of oak spice like cinnamon and ginger linger.
Comments:
I once enjoyed port finishes but later lost interest in them. When retrying this whisky from my bottle – gifted by Iain McAllister during my 2022 visit to Glen Scotia, where we shared a chat – I could have anticipated disappointment, despite its Glen Scotia pedigree. Fortunately, I now know better than to let bias cloud judgement. And I would have been wrong to let bias direct my thoughts; this whisky delivers solidly. It does not top the eight releases we review here – several others from my collection outshine it – but it captures a robust Campbeltown character with a compelling sweet Ruby Port twist.
Rating: 6.5/10
Glen Scotia 2003 Rum Cask Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2019) Review
The second release for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2019 stands as the oldest in the series. Glen Scotia distilled this heavily peated whisky in February and March 2003. It matured primarily in refilled ex-bourbon casks before spending seven months finishing in first-fill Guyana rum casks. The release saw a significantly larger outturn than the first, with 9,500 bottles bottled at 51.3% ABV. Like the inaugural expression, this whisky has sold out, so collectors must look to the secondary market to find a bottle.
Colour:
Amontillado.
Nose:
Neat: The nose shows a blend of sweet smoke and tropical fruits, including banana, pineapple, mandarin, kiwi, and citrus notes, like lime and orange peel. There is a characteristic Campbeltown maritime touch with mineral, pebbly, and chalky notes, salty sea air, and some smokiness. There is sweetness with toffee and vanilla nuances, combined with a subtle waxy texture and floral hints like jasmine and hibiscus.
With water: Adding water tends to open the nose to more tropical citrus and herbal aromas, as well as more sweetness, with icing sugar.
Palate:
’Neat: The palate is medium-bodied with sweet, creamy caramel and ripe tropical fruit flavours (pineapple, mandarin, banana), both fresh and as candy, balanced by mineral salts and brackish water notes. The rum finish provides gentle wood, vanilla, and toffee sweetness, accompanied by spices including pepper, nutmeg, and light sour peat smoke. There is a pleasing bitterness of unripe grape and herbal touches and resinous notes.
With water: Reduction softens the sweetness on the palate but enhances the mineral and smoky character, also adding some chocolate and a slightly stronger wood note.
Finish:
The finish is long and intense, maintaining a balance of sweet and salty elements, with smoky and maritime mineral nuances persisting until the end. The smoky peat note is refined yet noticeable, alongside lingering citrus and spice.
Comments:
This second Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival release earns praise for its complex layering of fruity sweetness, coastal salinity, gentle peat smoke, and refined rum cask sweetness. Bottled at a nice 51.3% ABV, it invites exploration neat or with water to unlock its full range of flavours. This stands as a strong Glen Scotia expression.
Rating: 7/10
Glen Scotia 14-year-old Tawny Port Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2020) Review
Glen Scotia released a peated 14-year-old expression for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2020, finished in first fill Tawny Port casks. The vatting combines 2004 heavily peated refill American hogsheads, 2005 heavily peated medium charred American barrels, and 2006 medium-peated first fill bourbon barrels, followed by a seven-to-eight-month finish in those Tawny Port casks. Glen Scotia ramped up production impressively for this third instalment, yielding 15,000 bottles at 52.8% ABV without chill filtration or added colour (with perhaps two or three cases reserved for Brian @MaltMusings!). Like previous releases, it has long sold out.
Colour:
Russet.
Nose:
Neat: The nose opens with earthy, leathery, and slightly sulphurous peat smoke reminiscent of spent fireworks, layered beneath sweet and rich dessert notes. Blood orange, cherries in syrup, pomegranate, and stewed dark fruits emerge alongside savoury elements of grilled white meat with thyme and cinnamon. Brown sugar, butterscotch, with the nose evolving towards forest floor, pine, and eucalyptus as it airs. A marine breeze with red berries also appear.
With water: The nose evolves towards a smouldering fire with a glass of mulled wine nearby, alongside the cool, ashy smell of a barbecue shelf after the embers have died down.
Palate:
Neat: The palate is medium-bodied and arrives smoky and sweet with charcoal, brown sugar, peach nectar, and malt deepening into stewed fruits and earthy peat smoke. Savoury barbecued pork chops marinated in soya sauce and subtle herbal notes such as ginger, eucalyptus, and rosemary appear, alongside chocolate-covered candied orange. Dessert-like impressions of apple, blackberries, and crumbled biscuit warmth with touches of custard provide additional richness, with the Tawny Port sweetness harmoniously integrated throughout.
With water: A few drops open up more maritime and mineral notes, such as mussel shells and juniper, enhancing the fruit’s character whilst making the palate silkier and more balanced. The peat remains evident but becomes more refined, revealing a softer dessert character.
Finish:
The finish is medium in length and features deep earthy peat with a gentle return of sulfurous matchstick notes and a lingering continuation of stewed plums, blood orange, and apricots. Strong coffee, floral notes, coconut, malt, and hints of maritime and smoke influences persist to the end.
Comments:
This Glen Scotia 14-Year-Old Tawny Port Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival 2020 presents a compelling balance of peat smoke and sweet port fruitiness. It represents a standout Campbeltown Festival release, balancing peat smoke with sweet port fruitiness in a way that appeals to both neat sipping and exploration with water. My favourite so far, almost deserving an 8 out of 10. Well… let’s settle on that 8.
Rating: 8/10
Glen Scotia 10-year-old Bordeaux Red Wine Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2021) Review
Glen Scotia released an unpeated 10-year-old malt for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2021, their fourth release in that series. It matured predominantly in first fill bourbon casks before finishing for five months in Bordeaux (Médoc) Red Wine Casks. This expression combines spirits distilled in 2009, 2010, and 2011, then married in refill bourbon barrels for two months after the wine cask finish. Glen Scotia bottled this whisky on 25 June 2021 at a robust 56.1% ABV, producing over 20,000 bottles without chill filtration or added colour.
Colour:
Burnished.
Nose:
Neat: This Glen Scotia opens with a lively nose full of mixed berries – raspberries, currants, and cherries – wrapped in a sweet, slightly tangy layer, and hints of earthy compost. Bright citrus and a hint of red apples give way to a salty edge and subtle oak, while undertones of baking spice, brown sugar, and fresh earth round out the aroma. With time in the glass, deeper notes of grape skin, forest floor, and gentle pepper appear.
’With water: Reduction brings more sweetness, stewing the berries into fruit jellies. Buttery pastries and baclavas oriental pastries add to the nose’s sweetness.
Palate:
Neat: The palate delivers a burst of jammy red and black fruit along with honeyed sweetness and a noticeable punch of spice. The spirit’s natural strength gives a prickle of warmth, lifting flavours of tart berries and dark chocolate. There’s a mineral backbone throughout – salty and slightly chalky – that brings balance. As it develops, subtle tannins, dry oak, and touches of coffee and cocoa come forward, with the sweetness and fruit remaining prominent.
With water: The whisky’s sweet berry and jam notes become more pronounced while the spices soften and the mouthfeel smooths out. The added water also brings forward underlying honeyed and floral tones, allowing the red fruit and Bordeaux cask influence to shine while keeping the characteristic Glen Scotia minerality present in the background.
Finish:
The finish is long and warming, bringing back rich spices and dark fruit before fading through toasted oak, baking cocoa, and a final salty touch. Tannins dry the palate just enough, leaving a lasting impression of fruit and subtle bittersweet notes.
Comments:
This fourth expression for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2021 surprises me, perhaps even more than the 2008 Ruby Port Finish from 2018. I usually dislike red wine finishes – the nose shows light off notes, and the wine influence stands out prominently – yet somehow I do not detest this Glen Scotia. In fact, I like it. My opinion varies, though; it hinges on my mood and palate, with some days leaving me far less convinced than today. Take this rating with a pinch of salt, as subjectivity always colours whisky reviews and tasting notes.
Rating: 6.5/10
Glen Scotia 8-year-old Peated PX Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2022) Review
Glen Scotia’s fifth release, an 8-year-old from 2013 distillate (roughly 80% heavily peated and 20% medium-peated), matured initially in first fill bourbon casks before a 12-month finish in first fill Pedro Ximénez casks. The distillery boosted the outturn further to 24,000 bottles at cask strength (56.5% ABV), non-chill filtered and with natural colour. This edition remains available across Europe, priced from €70 in France and Germany to a steep £130 at certain UK retailers.
Colour:
Burnished.
Nose:
Neat: The nose opens with strong salinity and seaweed notes paired with a faint smoke reminiscent of a fading bonfire on a Campbeltown beach. Date syrup, marzipan, and toffee emerge beneath the peat, with touches of tropical fruit and citrus adding brightness. Cocoa and pipe tobacco appear with time, and the smoke gradually becomes more prominent as the whisky airs, developing earthy and boggy peat tones. There is a certain lactic quality to the peat here – savoury and slightly funky rather than heavily smoky.
With water: The nose mellows, with ash and cocoa mingling alongside the pipe tobacco, allowing those softer tones to come forward. In the meantime, oyster brine provides additional coastal scents.
Palate:
Neat: The peat comes through in a savoury, earthy way rather than a smoky one, with chewy salted caramel and dried fruits, including sultanas, raisins, figs, and dates dominating initially. The PX finish brings a thick, oily mouthfeel with layers of dark chocolate, honey, liquorice, and subtle berries. A significant hit of peppery spice arrives alongside the more insistent peat smoke, balanced by lingering salinity and the distinctive Glen Scotia maritime character. The whisky feels raw and young in places – pencil shavings oak can appear – but with time in the glass it settles, becoming sweeter and more cohesive as the peat recedes slightly and the fruit and treacle come forward.
With water: The palate becomes slightly less sharp initially but remains somewhat aggressive, with the raw oak and peat resurfacing as the spirit is swallowed. Water manages the intensity but doesn’t fully resolve the tension between the whisky’s youthful character and the PX’s sweetness.
Finish:
The finish is long, with sharp peat smoke and oak persisting through to the end. Chocolate-covered cherries, almonds, plums, lemons, liquorice, and hints of cough syrup linger, alongside lingering salinity and peppery spice. The sweetness gradually takes over as the finish develops, with ash emerging at the very end.
Comments:
This Glen Scotia 8-Year-Old Peated PX Finish for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2022 delivers a distinctive profile where peat and Pedro Ximénez sweetness vie with the distillery’s coastal character. The interplay results in a draw, as these elements trade dominance between foreground and background to create an engaging, expressive and very good whisky.
Rating: 7/10
Glen Scotia 11-year-old White Port Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2023) Review
This sixth Campbeltown Malts Festival release, a Glen Scotia 11-year-old unpeated expression, matured for ten years in 100% first fill ex-bourbon casks, then finished for twelve months in ex-white port casks. After that, the distillery married it in refill bourbon barrels for two further months before bottling it at a robust 54.7% ABV. Glen Scotia released 24,000 bottles without chill filtration or added colour. Initially priced at £65 in the UK, you can still find bottles easily across Europe for around €65, though UK prices often approach double the original.
Colour:
Burnished.
Nose:
Neat: The nose combines gentle ashy peat and smouldering wood with white grapes, melon, and stone fruits like peach, alongside honey and a touch of vanilla. There is a subtle mineral, coastal edge with seaweed and salt, plus hints of lemon, lemongrass, and floral sweetness that give a lifted, almost desert-like character reminiscent of smoked cheesecake with citrus toppings.
With water: Reduction brings out additional honeyed malt, biscuits, and floral notes, while the white port’s grapey sweetness becomes clearer.
Palate:
Neat: the peat steps forward with more assertive smoke – industrial or charcoal-like at times – but remains balanced by a core of orchard and grape sweetness. White and green grapes, peaches and other orchard fruits sit with honey, caramel and a light fudge or toffee note, while ginger and white pepper bring some heat. The white port influence comes through as boiled or stewed fruit and grape soda tones rather than red-berry port richness, and there is a touch of nuttiness and umami, like a savoury cheese, layered over the sweetness. Finally, Campbeltown’s trademark salinity and a slightly earthy, mineral side keep this whisky from becoming cloying.
–– With water: Dilution smooths the youthful heat and lets the creamy, fruity side expand, although some find the different elements – funky grapes, savoury cheese, light peat – still a touch quirky and not always fully unified.
Finish:
The finish is medium to long, with smoke running all the way through alongside ginger, lemon, and honey before resolving into persistent grape notes. Dry ash, cinnamon spice, and a little sea salt linger on the tongue, with a gentle tannic grip that adds a faintly drying, winey edge without overwhelming the fruit.
Comments:
This Glen Scotia 11-Year-Old White Port Finish from the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2023 balances light peat and coastal notes with bright, sweet fruit from the cask. It stands out as a slightly unconventional festival release, blending light smoke, fruity white port character, maritime salinity, and a touch of savoury complexity. Above all, it’s an enjoyable and well-crafted whisky. It seems Glen Scotia clearly knows how to handle port cask finishes, no matter the type of port.
Rating: 7/10
Glen Scotia 9-year-old Fino Sherry Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2024) Review
The penultimate whisky today, Glen Scotia’s 9-year-old unpeated expression for the Campbeltown Malts Festival 2024, starts with a vatting of casks matured 8 to 8½ years in 100% first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. Glen Scotia then finished half the vatting for six months and the other half for 11 to 12 months in Fino sherry casks before marrying them. They did not disclose the outturn for this release, strangely. The distillery bottled it at 56.2% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. Bottles remain widely available, starting at €55 in Germany and £60 in the UK.
Colour:
Old gold.
Nose:
Neat: The nose seems a little shy at first and requires some aeration before it unfolds. Then, it offers bright and fresh notes of citrus fruits like lemon and lime alongside white orchard fruits such as apple and pear. These are complemented by subtle vanilla, caramel, and a delicate coastal salinity with hints of seaweed and mineral-rich dry stone.
With water: The nose softens and blossoms with honeyed malt and biscuit tones, enhancing floral and fruity notes while tempering the spirit’s assertiveness.
Palate:
Neat: The palate is rich and full-bodied, displaying a fresh fruit-driven character with sweet apples and tart lemons balanced by the savory, salty edge typical of Glen Scotia. The fino finish emerges with flavours of sea salt, lightly drying oak, and a faint suggestion of struck match sulphur, adding subtle spice. The mouthfeel is thick and oily, with a lively peppery kick.
With water: The palate opens to reveal more integrated flavours of sweet fruit, gentle spice, and a smoother texture, as well as a stronger salinity.
Finish:
The finish is pleasantly long and dry, carrying forward the lemon zest along with floral and herbal notes like ginger and fresh herbs. A subtle industrial or metallic undertone appears but does not detract significantly. The maritime saltiness characteristic of Campbeltown whiskies lingers, with a slight astringency.
Comments:
This 9-year-old Glen Scotia offers a compelling balance of bright sherry influence, coastal minerality, and fresh fruit flavours despite its youthful age, but the fino sherry finish fails to mask that youth entirely, and this expression shows less complexity than its predecessors.
Rating: 6.5/10
Glen Scotia 9-year-old Heavily Peated Ribero Del Duero Finish Campbeltown Malts Festival (2025) Review
The final whisky for today is Glen Scotia’s 9-year-old heavily peated release for the 2025 Campbeltown Malts Festival. It spent most of its life in first fill bourbon casks before finishing for five months in Ribera del Duero red wine casks from northwestern Spain. Glen Scotia bottled it at 54.3% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. Bottles remain available, priced around €60–65 in Germany, closer to €70 in the Netherlands, and starting at £65 in the UK.
Colour:
Deep gold.
Nose:
Neat: The nose opens with rich layers of sweet peat smoke reminiscent of a seaside bonfire, combined with vibrant berry fruits like raspberries and blackberries, roasted pineapple, and hints of sherbet. The classic Glen Scotia maritime character brings salty sea breeze and earthy mineral notes, complemented by nuances of vanilla and cream.
With water: With a touch of water, the fruit and savoury peat elements become more pronounced, revealing creaminess and subtle sweetness. The nose softens and opens to reveal more honeyed malt and floral notes.
Palate:
Neat: The palate is full-bodied and richly textured, showcasing an immediate burst of smoky peat combined with dusty earthiness and coastal salinity. Juicy red fruits such as blackberries and dried cherries stand out alongside flavours of caramel and vanilla. Spicy accents of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and peppercorn intertwine with oak, tobacco, and hints of musk, providing some warmth. The wine cask finish adds a layer of dryness and tannins, balancing the sweetness and smoke well.
With water: The palate becomes smoother and more harmonised, allowing the red fruit and smoky peat to shine without overpowering each other, whilst the tannins and dryness are toned down.
Finish:
The finish is long, with peat smoke fading slowly alongside lingering notes of sweet prunes, liquorice root, and a touch of lime zest. A distinct minerality and gentle mossy earthiness accompany the ashy smoke, making for a rich, velvety conclusion with a spicy, slightly salty edge.
Comments:
I had not heard of Ribera del Duero wine before writing this review and tasting the latest Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival expression (Even though I like that, I rarely drink wine). The heavily peated malt and wine casks fail to integrate fully in this Glen Scotia – they compete for dominance. Heavy smoke and tannins overpower everything, and the whisky nearly loses its signature Glen Scotia character.
Rating: 6/10
But Don’t Trust Our Word For It…
Want another opinion? My friend Brian @MaltMusings has reviewed them all over the years, check his blog! You can also check Dramface, they’ve reviewed a few.