Scapa 16, 40% abv.

Scapa is a small production distillery on Orkney and is considered part of Ballantine's. They use a rare Lomond Still, which is apparently barrel-shaped, for their distillation as well as a long fermentation time. Supposedly, human resources at Highland Park go work at Scapa when HP is down.

Nose: unripe cherries, red jell-o, a slight bitter wood, light cinnamon, old eucalyprus tree bark.

Palate: a little smooth, initial palate is similar to frozen grapes, hints of flower honey, tropical flowers, mid palate is fruit, purple grapes, that weird red purple fruit that looks like starfruit, back palate has a waxy taste and carries the flower honey sweetness.

Finish: short, light spice.

My initial feel was it tastes younger than 16, but doesn't have the rough edges of a young scotch. A light bodied scotch, generally sweet, more along the lines of fruit and flowers than honey, no smoke, no wood or oak, not vegetative, not malty or breadlike, not a variety of flavors. Finish was pretty weak. Pretty straightforward.

Grade: C

Whiskyanalysis.com, 8.28 ± 0.29 on 16 reviews
Whiskyfun.com, Serge, sgp:331, 79 points
Whisky advocate, John Hansell, 85 points

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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