Glen Scotia 21 year old, Old Potrero Single Barrel Ryes, & More [New Releases]

In recent weeks, a number of distilleries have announced major new builds. Blue Run Spirits is set to break ground on a state-of-the-art facility in Georgetown, Kentucky, while Middle West Spirits is relocating in Columbus, Ohio for 14 acres of space and a 75,000-square-foot distillery. Now, Wild Turkey has joined the mix, bringing to the table plans for an additional distillery on the Wild Turkey Distillery campus in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The $161 million facility will be capable of producing 5 million proof gallons per year, bumping annual production up to 14 million proof gallons. Completion is slated for July 2025.

This week's new whiskies come from Scotland, California, and Kentucky. Campbeltown single malt Glen Scotia adds a 21 year old to its core lineup, Old Potrero returns with three single barrel straight ryes, and RD1 Spirits debuts two wood stave-finished bourbons. Read on for full details.

Glen Scotia 21 year old
Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Campbeltown)
Age: 21 year old
ABV: 46%
Price: $360
Release: 2023
Availability: Limited; global annual release of 2,500 bottles (360 for the U.S.)

Need to know:

Glen Scotia has added a new age statement single malt into its range between its 18 year old and 25 year old. Limited quantities of this expression will be released each year. The whisky was aged in a combination of refill bourbon barrels and refill American oak hogsheads before receiving a 6-month finish in first-fill oloroso sherry casks.

Whisky Advocate says:

Glen Scotia is a traditional distillery equipped with a single pair of copper pot stills and is one of three surviving distilleries in Campbeltown. A previous bourbon cask-matured Glen Scotia 21 year old expression was released in 2012, but it was discontinued some years back. Releasing a permanent 21 year old whisky into a range takes a serious amount of planning, and with the distillery mothballed for periods in the 1980s and 1990s, older stock was an issue. Distillery manager Iain McAlister is also Glen Scotia’s master blender and has an unparalleled knowledge of his inventory and stocks, so with this new 2023 release, that problem will be behind them for now.

Old Potrero 100% Straight Rye Single Barrel (OP6-14 BBL11)
Style: Straight rye
Origin: California
Age: 8 years, 3 months
ABV: 64.95%
Price: $90
Release: April 2023
Availability: 4,578 bottles; California, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas now; via ReserveBar beginning in May

Old Potrero 100% Straight Rye Sherry Cask Single Barrel (OP8-14 BBL7)
Style: Straight rye
Origin: California
Age: 4 years, 3 months
ABV: 63.23%
Price: $90
Release: April 2023
Availability: 528 bottles; California, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas now; via ReserveBar beginning in May

Old Potrero 100% Straight Rye Port Cask Single Barrel (OP7-15 BBL8)
Style: Straight rye
Origin: California
Age: 7 years, 3 months
ABV: 65.6%
Price: $90
Release: April 2023
Availability: 1,098 bottles; California, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas now; via ReserveBar beginning in May

Need to Know:

Old Potrero is distilled at the Hotaling & Co. Distillery on Potrero Hill Farm in San Francisco by master distiller Bruce Joseph, who’s been with the distillery since its founding. These three single barrel expressions have a mashbill of 100% malted rye that underwent a four-day fermentation before being double distilled in Old Potrero’s copper pot stills. They were aged in toasted and charred extra-fine grain American oak barrels.

Whisky Advocate Says:

San Francisco-based Old Potrero originally was part of Anchor Brewing, whose roots date back to 19th-century San Francisco and the Gold Rush. By 1965 the brewery was on its last legs, and was purchased by Fritz Maytag, who founded Anchor Distilling Co. in 1993 as a spirits offshoot. In 2010 Maytag sold the entire business to two former Skyy vodka executives, Tony Foglio and Keith Greggor, who offloaded the brewing side to Japanese beer giant Sapporo to concentrate on distilling and importing. Anchor Distilling’s name was changed to Hotaling & Co. in 2018 in line with its core brand’s name, which is a tribute to one of San Francisco’s legendary liquor merchants of the 19^th century.

RD1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished with Brazilian Amburana Wood
Style: Finished bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 4 year old
ABV: 55%
Price: $80
Release: April 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:

This bourbon was finished with amburana wood staves. Amburana is native to Brazil and traditionally used in South America for essential oils, luxury furniture, and aging cachaça, a Brazilian cane spirit. RD1’s partner cooperage uses a patented “honeycomb” technique to drill small holes into the amburana staves, enabling more interaction between wood and whiskey.

RD1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Double Finished in Oak and Maple Barrels
Style: Straight bourbon
Origin: Kentucky
Age: 4 year old
ABV: 49.95%
Price: $80
Release: April 2023
Availability: Limited

Need to know:

RD1 used French oak staves steeped in maple syrup to finish this bourbon.

Whisky Advocate says:

RD1 Spirits launched in 2020. Its name pays tribute to Lexington, Kentucky’s first federally registered distillery, which was given the distinction of RD#1 back in 1865. The whiskeys are made by master distiller Jacob Call, an 8th-generation distiller, who previously headed up Green River Distilling; last year, he left the company for a new venture, Western Kentucky Distilling Co., which broke ground on a $30 million distillery in November. In addition to these finished whiskeys, RD1 makes a 98 proof straight bourbon and a 101 proof straight bourbon finished in French oak.

Glenglassaugh 46 year old
Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Highlands)
Age: 46 year old
ABV: 41.7%
Price: $4,800
Release: April 2023
Availability: Limited; U.S. exclusive

Need to know:

This 46 year old single malt aged in a bourbon cask hand-selected by master blender Rachel Barrie. Given the age, it’s easy to see why this is an extremely limited release.

Whisky Advocate says:

Glenglassaugh Distillery is on Scotland’s northeast coast, perched high atop a cliffside. The distillery was founded in 1875, and production halted in 1986 when then-owners Highland Distillers (Edrington) didn’t find it economically workable in the midst of a whisky downturn. Prior to the 1986 closure, Glenglassaugh’s whisky was used primarily in blends for other Edrington brands including Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse. The distillery reopened in 2008, and Edrington sold it to BenRiach Distillery Co. in 2013. Brown-Forman then acquired BenRiach Distillery Co. in 2016, and has maintained ownership since then.

Royal Salute Coronation of King Charles III Edition
Style: Blend
Origin: Scotland
Age: Not stated
ABV: 52.3%
Price: $25,000
Release: April 2023
Availability: Global release of 500 bottles (56 for the U.S.)

Need to know:

Royal Salute has released a limited-edition expression in honor of the coronation of King Charles III, as well as its own origin story. For this release, master blender Sandy Hyslop blended 53 rare malt and grain whiskies to reflect 1953, when the first Royal Salute whisky was created 70 years ago to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The whisky is housed in a sapphire blue Dartington crystal decanter to reflect the color of stones set in the state crown, and is presented in a wooden box inspired by Westminster Abbey, the iconic setting for the coronation of the British monarchy since 1066.

Whisky Advocate says:

Royal Salute has maintained ties with the British Royal family since its inception, marking significant moments such as the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 with rare whisky releases. This is unlikely to be the only whisky collector’s piece released to mark the coronation of King Charles III, as a number of English distilleries and scotch whisky producers with royal warrants have previously released expressions marking royal marriages, births, and Jubilees.

The Singleton 40 year old
Style: Single malt
Origin: Scotland (Highlands)
Age: 40 years old
ABV: 45.9%
Price: $3,755
Release: April 2023
Availability: Limited global release of 1,716 bottles

Need to know:

This Singleton expression was distilled at Glen Ord Distillery and underwent a secondary maturation of 28 years in bourbon, rum, and PX/oloroso seasoned sherry casks before being finished in solera casks of Zacapa XO and Royal Rum in a collaboration with Lorena Vasquez, master blender of Ron Zacapa.

Whisky Advocate says:

This is the third and final release in the Epicurean Odyssey series following in the footsteps of The Singleton 38 year old (90 points) and The Singleton 39 year old (94 points). The creation of this whisky was under the guidance of veteran master blender Maureen Robinson, who retired in the summer of 2022 after a 45-year career in the whisky industry. Robinson’s experiments at Diageo with long periods of secondary maturation came to the fore with the earlier releases in the Epicurean Odyssey series and when she curated the second release of Diageo’s Prima & Ultima collection in 2021.