Scotland, the Isles: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Scapa

The Isles: Orkney

Description of the whisky

The distillery


Scapa Distillery
St Ola, Kirkwall
Orkney KW15 1SE
+44 01856 872 071
Owner:Pernod-Ricard
Creation date 1885

The Scapa distillery has been founded by John Townsend and MacFarlane, distillers from Glasgow, and is settled on the banks of the famous "Scapa Flow". Townsend was also famous in the Speyside area.
During World War I, the distillery barely avoided a fire thanks to the intervention of sailors of the Royal Navy. The distillery was used as an ammunition for the british army.
The distillery was sold to the Bloch brothers, owners of Glen Scotia in Campbeltown in 1936.
In 1954 Hiram Walker bought the distillery and he added amongst other things a Lomond still.
Owned by Allied Distillers, the Scapa distillery is mothballed since 1994.
A major part of the production is used in the Teacher's and Ballantine's blends.
The Scapa distillery is under control of Pernod-Ricard since the French Company purchased the activities of Allied Domecq in 2005.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

See Help 0 - 40 € 40 - 80 € 80 - 120 € 120 - 160 € 160 - 200 € 200 - 240 € 240 - 280 € > 280 €
Scapa: Official bottlings
 

Scapa 12 years
Age
 12 years
Alcohol
 40°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
 
 The colour is gold with amber glints, the nose is marked by fruits and cereal sweetness.
The oily palate is well balanced and goes on floral and fruity touches and on malt.
The finish reveals some chocolate hints, which is often present at Scapa's malts.

(la Maison du Whisky)

 The discrete and pleasant smell of cereals annouces a sweet and relatively simple taste. The impression in the mouth gives lots of pleasure, however a slight lack of density and surprise is regrettable. A finish of average length. A good bottle from one of the sole Orkney distilleries.
The reasonable price makes it a very good quality-price rating.

A second tasting reveales some discrete qualities of this whisky. Slightly acid notes enhancing this relatively flat whisky. A pleasant finis, et the whole does not really justify the first quotation....

A rather pleasant nose recalling ripe fruits (something between pear and prune). In the palate, the first impression is some bitterness, and it develops on more floral notes. The sweetness detected by the nose is not present anymore. The finish is of average length, and the bitterness marking the palate is still present. It is a rather interesting bottling, despite a kind of simplicity in the taste.
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Scapa 14 years
Age
 14 years
Alcohol
 40°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
Scapa 14
Nose : round, smooth. Slightly smoked. Floral (lavender). Herbal (cut hay).
Hints of leather and exotic fruit (pineapple). Vanilla.
Palate: powerful, round. Hints of tobacco, cigar. Fruity (peach, cherry plum). Chocolate, praline. develops on dry fruits (allmond, nut).
Finish: long and firm, vegetal (tobacco leave). liquorice. Smooth notes of holey and lavender. Chocolate, butter, ripe fruit (melon)

(la Maison du Whisky)
Another whisky which needs some attention in order to get all its qualities, which are not obvious immediately. The nose is very discrete at the beginning, however it is rather rich and various, between honey and more floral and aromatically richer hints. In the palate, not great taste explosions. Papillas are not really of the party. A good whisky, with some (sometimes too) subtil nuances. The finish is interesting, and relatively sweet, recalling honey and ripe fruit. A good bottle, to celebrate the reopening of the distillery, but it is certainly not the best production of Scapa.

The rather discrete nose is clearly on the fruits, peach, pear or melon, with some floral hints and a touch of honey. In the palate, the presence of honey remains, mixed with a kind of bitterness. A kind of watery feeling probably due to the percentage of alcohol. The mouth is clearly less interesting than the nose was. A touch of acidity, a touch of smoke and a touch of malt. The pleasant but too short finish is sweet with some discrete hints of malt. The frustration of the mouth just increases with the second sip, just like all following ones....
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Scapa: Independent bottlings
 

Scapa
16 years
Chieftain's Choice
Age
 16 ans
Alcohol
 43°
Cask
 Sherry
Bottler
 Ian McLeod
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros
 
 The nose detects some sherry, cinnamon or beeswax hints.
The taste is malted, but reveals spices and the taste of oak wood.
The finish is powerful, spicy and oily, with a liquorice and black pepper after taste.

(la Maison du Whisky)

 I expected a salted, peaty whisky, typical from the islands.... None of all. A wonderful whisky, sweet and with a lot of character. A slight predominance of malt? Anyway, an excellent whisky which has its place in each nice whisky collection. A long finish which leaves an excellent memory. Obviously, Chieftain's Choice is a very nice collection.
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A second tasting confirmed partially the first one. The nose is dominated by the sherry and other pleasant fragrances, the palate develops on malt and spices and quite a long and very pleasant finish had as result a slightly better rating this time.

The nose is clearly dominated by sherry, but reveals a nice complexity too, with discrete notes of spices amongst other sensations. In the palate, this whisky is really wonderful, with clear spicy notes, but staying however very nicely balanced and with a pleasant malty background. An extraordinary finish, giving the impression that this whisky is even greater after swallowing... A very long finish, where the spicy notes remain, but with some violet or more precisely, liquorice hints. This bottle was a real revelation at the third tasting.

The nose is pleasantly floral with a light veil of smoke on the background. After a while, fruity notes (exotic fruit, mango) appear.
In the palate, a very pleasant impression of chocolate and nuts, followed by fruits (banana, apple) and malt: a nice complexity. A voluptuous whisky.
The finish is long, pleasant marked by both the fruits and some slightly bitter hints (wood)
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Scapa samples

Scapa
Taste Still
1993-2005

Age
 12 years
Acohol
 46°
Cask
 Bourbon
Bottler
 Taste Still
Scapa Taste still
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The Isles

Campbeltown map

The Scottish coast is surrounded by isles where whisky is produced, specially on the West coast (Mull, Skye, Arran and Jura) and on the North (Orkney)
The most important island from a whisky point of view is Islay, but this one is considered as a production area on its own.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information about the Isles area, and if you want to make an "alphabetical journey" through the area, please click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow

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