Review #859 - Glen Scotia 25 Year — Me, My Wife & Whisky

In May 2026, we attended a tasting at our local specialty spirits retailer, Storied Company; this time, we were tasting a selection of single malts from Glen Scotia distillery. This Campbeltown distillery produces a wide range of whiskies, both age stated and NAS, and at a variety of strengths. For modern iterations of Glen Scotia, there's a strong focus on distillate character: they use a fermentation time of roughly 128 hours, far longer than the 50-ish hours required for a full conversion of sugar to alcohol in the whisky wash. That extra time adds lots of estery notes, especially flavors like light fruits. We tried 6 whiskies on the night - this is 1 of those 6.

This 25 Year Old single malt is the oldest of the Glen Scotia core range; like many of their other whiskies, this is fully matured in bourbon casks so that the distillate character can still be highlighted. They use an unusual strategy for those 25 years, though: the first 20 are spent in refill casks for a gentler maturation, and then the whisky is moved into first fill bourbon casks for the final 5 years, which is supposed to reinvigorate the spirit.

This single malt is bottled at a strength of 48.8% ABV, and in a rare move for Glen Scotia, the packaging explicitly states that this whisky is both natural color and not chill filtered.

Glen Scotia 25 Year

Scotland/Campbeltown - Single Malt

Price: USD 599 (2026)

Age Statement: 25 Years

Strength: 48.8% ABV

Cask Makeup: Refill ex-bourbon casks, finished in first fill ex-bourbon casks

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; tasted in a nosing glass, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Smells very oily, and we get orange peel and some mineral like slate, along with shoe polish. Subtle passionfruit and guava add a tropical side, and it's a bit musty and smells old; sugary notes build with time.

Palate: Softer and more subtle than expected. Mineral notes, very coastal (salty), and charred orange combines with sweet peach fruit. There's a tickling fizzy element, and the texture is lovely and decadent.

Finish: Tangy orange fruit, slate, a mild metallic note that's hard to place; the oak builds in intensity, and there's a nice oily wood polish and some tannins. Despite the long aging, there's still some subtle malty distillate showing.

Final Note: This is a very nice Glen Scotia, but in our tasting experience, it was also quite subtle. Compared to the louder 15 Year and Victoriana whiskies we tried alongside it, this took more time to dig into, and the flavors were a bit more muted at times, but it does have nice complexity if you give it enough attention. The higher age is adding a great polished wood or leather flavor, but there's still a bit of bright, fresh fruit, and there's lots of that coastal salinity that we've come to associate with this brand.

While the whisky is good, value isn't - the price here is very high. We had the opportunity to buy this at the tasting for about $600, and that was apparently actually a bargain, as the list price in other places is often $800. We like the whisky, but there's no way we're paying that.

Our Rating: 8.5 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 4.03

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.