Scapa 2003 19 Year Old Exclusive to The Whisky Exchange

5

Nose: Nice and fruity up front with a mix of red and green apples, vanilla ice cones, and apple strudels. Further nosing reveals peach and apricot cobbler, some wine gums and sultanas sweetness, drizzled with lemon and orange zest, and some cotton candy and a hint of brine. Palate: Some more apples here on the palate, with a nice sweetness balanced by polished oak and baking spices in addition to some pepper, vanilla, and shredded dried coconut. There's some lemon zest and orange marmalade sweetness too, ending on honeyed notes, and a wee hint of exotic fruit. Finish: more of the exotic fruit (papayas, and red grapefruit), fresh toast, and more apple puree. Conclusion: A lovely fruity and complex Scapa at cask strength... What a great dram this is. Not cheap though, but if you're a Scapa fan, you won't find many OB Scapas at this ABV... yummy. Well done, TWE and Scapa. Well done...

5

Lovely, just lovely. I've been a huge fan of Scapa ever since trying one of the mid-teens bottlings 10 years ago, and also love when Ballantines produced their heightened Scapa-based expressions. But this is beyond belief. Lovely Scapa minerality and tart apple nose, and so so well balanced. Feels like a 46% - you'll completely forget it's cask strength.

5

Such a lovely and complex SCAPA. So glad finally a full ex-bourbon matured whisky from the little Orkney distillery was released in cask strength. As markets are flooded with similar and often not very special Highland Park bottlings, it’s more than charming to have an OB from Scapa distillery here. Matured almost for two decades, it shines bright between the classic Scapa bottlings. The light character of the distillery often is too diluted in their older standard range like the 12,14 or 16 which all gone since many years. This 19y is by far the best Scapa bottling in recent years. Only a few older single casks, that were only available at distillery shop, were on this level.