Glen Scotia will run a weekend of Halloween tastings at Luss Distillery on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November. The sessions centre on the Campbeltown distillery’s limited-edition Icons of Campbeltown series, in which each whisky is tied to a piece of local folklore. Two tasting formats will be on offer across the weekend, one built around the Icons range and one around the distillery’s core whiskies.
The series takes its cues from the carvings on a 14th-century stone in the centre of Campbeltown, linked to the town’s medieval market cross. Each annual release is inspired by one of the carved creatures and paired with a whisky. Earlier editions have featured the Dragon, the Wulver and the Griffin, which appears on Release No. 4. Ashley Smith, master blender at Glen Scotia, said: “Campbeltown has a wealth of folklore and a rich history to draw on.” She said the stories give the distillery a way to tell its own history through the collection.
The main event is a 45-minute Icons of Campbeltown tasting priced at £19, in which guests sample four drams from the range. Sessions run at 11.15am, 2.15pm and 4pm across both days. A shorter 30-minute tasting of the core range costs £15 and covers three drams: the Double Cask Sherry Finish, the 12 Year Old and Victoriana. Those sessions run at 10.30am on 31 October, and at 10.30am and 3.15pm on 1 November.
The Double Cask Sherry Finish is pitched as an introduction to the brand, while the 12 Year Old is the distillery’s hero expression. Victoriana is a modern version of a Victorian-style single malt and recalls the era when Campbeltown was known as the whisky capital of the world. Today the town sits in Scotland’s smallest whisky-making region. Glen Scotia and Luss Distillery are both owned by the Loch Lomond Group, which also produces Loch Lomond Whiskies and Ben Lomond Gin.
Tony MacLean, brand home manager at Luss Distillery, said the invitation followed the success of the Glen Scotia Mini Campbeltown Malts Festival held there earlier this year. He said: “Our expert team knows Glen Scotia inside out.” MacLean added that staff can guide long-standing fans as well as people tasting the whiskies for the first time. Luss Distillery, which the group runs as a spirits destination on the shores of Loch Lomond, sits about an hour from Glasgow. Places for both tastings are limited and are booked through the Luss Distillery website.
