Tag Archives: Glenturret

The Whisky Warehouse No. 8 – Glenturret 8 year 57.5%

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This would be my 3rd Glenturret 8 year from an independent bottler! We were rather impressed by the North Star’s Glenturret – which was distilled the same month as this Warehouse cask and bottled within a month of each other. I’d also had the pleasure of trying Chorlton’s Ruadh Maor aka peated Glenturret.

So what about this one from The Whisky Warehouse No. 8?

Glenturret 8 year (Dec 2010 / Apr 2019) Bourbon Hogshead Cask No. W8 181, 57.5% 330 Bottles

  • Nose – Even before putting in the glass, we had a whiff of our wee bottle and went – Mmmm….sweet smoked bacon! And then into the glass it went and… huh? Where did the delicious aroma go? Instead we found a brine, hay… predominantly cereals like hot (slightly boring) porridge, wet fall leaves, rubber gum… is that gym shoe? Curious
  • Palate – Ah.. now here is the light peat smoke, bay leaves, cinnamon spice, a bit of ginger bread… not a heavy peat, more like peat ‘adjacent’
  • Finish – It does last…

Let’s be honest, we were a tad disappointed. I happened to have the North Star Glenturret bottle handy and pulled it out to compare, making my virtual tasting companions a wee bit jealous. Yup! There were all the fabulous elements we enjoyed about the Glenturret – a nuanced peat, tasty cereals, maple bacon… We dismissed the Glenturret and moved on to our other minis..

However a funny thing happened along the way… as it patiently sat there… an amazing alchemy with air took place. We returned for a revisit and we delighted to discover much that we enjoyed in the North Star was now present! Where had all those lovely qualities been hiding?

  • Nose – Gingerbread joined the light puff of smoke,
  • Palate – Some cheese, smoked meats chased by cinnamon spice
  • Finish – Remained dry and long

Even on the first go, we enjoyed the palate more than nose alone… however with the revisit it was clear this had all the makings of a rather enjoyable dram. Certainly one to wait for it…. wait for it… as it just might be “Legend… wait for it…. dary!“

Curious about other Glenturret experiences?

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North Star Series 8 – Glenturret 8 year 58.3%

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The last North Star we sampled was from the Highlands – Glenturret to be precise.

I will admit when I selected this bottle, I was hugely influenced by how spectucular the LMdW Artist Glenturret 30 year was! This impression was further re-inforced by a positive experience with a port matured Glenturret 14 year mini.

When I first opened it went – woah!? This was no lucious peach confection. It was peat.  I paused… and then it clicked! I also had this style of Glenturret – better known as Ruadh Mhor – courtesy of a fabulous evening of Chorlton’s whiskies.

In the past, most Glenturret would go into Famous Grouse. You might come across the occasional independent bottles, however in 2018 it was sold to Glenturret Holding – a joint venture between Lalique Group and Swiss entrepreneur Hansjörg Wyss, from 2020 a new range of official bottling are now available.

I went back to filling up our sample bottles to send to Whisky ladies in Europe, intrigued to explore together. And when we did? Here’s what we found…

Glenturret 8 year (Dec 2010 / Mar 2019) Refill Hogshead 58.3% (North Star 008), 1 of 330 bottles. Price Price with shipping/tax £65.49

  • Colour – Golden hay
  • Nose – Well hello peat! Barbecue pringles, salted cashew nuts, cured meats, burnt bacon drizzled in maple syrup, a bit of charcoal wood chips.
  • Palate – Mmmmm maple bacon… baked apples, chocolate… a nice ‘grown up’ complex sweet peat, oily, think caramelized onions and apple sauce with a nice light gingery spice
  • Finish – Long… a subtle smoked bacon tail with a lingering sweetness
  • Water – Initially it seemed to dampen it too much, losing the lovely balance between spice, sweet and peat… however it did add another citrusy element – grapefruit.

While the aromas swirled about with cured smoked meats, the peat was more nuanced on the palate… a kind of civilized rounded peat. Just the kind of maple bacon that is hard to resist!

Talk turned to peat. One of our whisky ladies has a clear peat preference. Whereas I have to admit,  I have veered away from peat of the last few years. Until now. And I realized it is clearly linked to environment. Living in India in perpetual summer is entirely different than a chilly Germany in November! Whereas this kind of sweet smokey dram is perfection on a cold miserable rainy day.

And what does Ian have to say?

  • Nose – Sweet & salted monkey nuts
  • Palate – Fine virginia tobacco
  • Finish – Medicinal, lemon and burnt orange

What else was part of my North Star latest score?

As for other Glenturret experiences? By far the most outstanding was the LMdW, however the Chorlton was also a worthy whisky!

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Minis – Glenturret 14 year 54%

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Our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai, like many tasting groups around the world, are lying low waiting out this COVID storm. However our connect remains strong and the bonus of going virtual is that I could even join one evening!

We each chose a preferred dram from home supplies to quaff together. What did I select? I was in the mood for something summery – a day-time dram in keeping with sipping on a sunny late afternoon in Europe. I also didn’t want to crack open a full bottle so turned my attention to my box of advent calendar minis.

My eye spied the Glenturret and thought – that looks about right! My last brush with Glenterret was the stunningly delicious 30 year from La Maison du Whisky‘s Artist range.

What did I discover?

Glenturret 14 year (2001) 54% (Highland Laird – Bartels Whisky)

  • Colour – Bright golden
  • Nose – Initially quite vegetal, lots of barley, hay, then shifted into delicious honey, strawberries, sweet spices…
  • Palate – Wow! Light spice, cereals, a twist of citrus, becomes fruitier… is that apricot? Or peach? Delightful with just enough depth to keep interest up!
  • Finish – Ginger sweet and fruit forward
  • Water – Fabulous! Even better… delicious

It was distractingly good – right up my alley in terms of taste profile. Whilst not complex, it was sunshine in a glass. Slowly sipping it was like having a fabulous blend of breakfast and desert – cream, fruits, cereals with a drizzle of honey topped with fresh grated cinnamon and cloves…

What more do we know about this whisky? It was matured in a port pipes and sold under Bartels Whisky’s Highland Laird range – which is focused on bottling single casks at cask strength.

And what do the folks at Bartels Whisky have to say?

We bottled this Glenturret in 2017, it has always been one of our more unusual malts having been aged in an ex port pipe.  The natural colour reflects this well.  It has gone down really well at events and shows we have attended.

Nose: Cooking spices, sultanas, anise and a touch of damp wood.
Palate: Oak spice shows off very well in this Glenturret, with black pepper, ginger and clove. Layers of orange keep it from getting far too spicy.  A slight sweetness coming through from the port pipe.
Finish: Drying and long.

Now I will admit my math was a bit perplexed at a 14 year being maturing from 2011 and bottled in 2017, but what the heck! It is just a terrific dram no matter the age.

As for what it would set you back? Bartels Whisky have it listed as GBP 58 – which is a complete bargain!

Here are a few others I tried from my advent calendar minis:

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Chorlton Single Casks – Ruadh Maor 8 year 62.5%

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Last in the remarkable trio from Chorlton Whisky was a whisky distilled at Glenturret. Like the Miltonduff and Orkney, we sampled it blind before the reveal of all three together.

Here is what we discovered…

Ruadh Maor 8 year 62.5% 158 bottles

  • Colour – Light straw
  • Nose – Mmmm… maple glazed bacon, Life Buoy soap, chip shop oil, blue cheese, curdled milk, beach ground nuts in sand and salt, boiled peanuts… then started shifting and it revealed light perfume, lemons in brine, the lactic aroma more pronounced, green olives, pizza tomato sauce, umami, light soy, cinnamon, fried chaklis, like being next to a meat shop
  • Palate – Delicious sweet peat, butter then sweet spice… really quite amazing
  • Finish – What a finish! It simply did not stop

We couldn’t help it… after such interesting aromas and fabulous palate, we were greedy to see how it faired with water.

The verdict?

It did rather well with water. It enhanced the peat, bringing it out more on the nose, definitely on the palate and certainly following through on the finish. Comments like “Yum, yum, yum!” could be heard! Even those who initially resisted adding water succumbed and went “Fab!”

We then began to speculate about the peat. We found it hard to pin down. It wasn’t a typical Islay… we struggled to identify it. Some wondered if it could be from Campbeltown? With smoke more than peat. However the briney quality had us puzzled.

Like the others sampled blind, we set it aside for some time. When we returned the “Yum!” very much remained – the interplay is fabulous between the sweet, peat, cinnamon bitterness, an oily head, and bacon barbecue.

What a treat and what a surprise to be introduced to a peated Glenturret.

The Chaps over at Master of Malt have this to say:

A wonderfully Ruadh Maor single malt, which is the name Glenturret used for its peated whisky. Distilled in 2010, it was aged for eight years in a hogshead from Caol Ila, which yielded 158 bottles which were bottled in 2019 at 62.5% ABV by Chorlton Whisky. A very unique peated dram, this, with an equally unique label!

  • Nose: Powerful, earthy, oily and smoky, with roasted potatoes, paprika, very salted caramel and just a hint of honey.
  • Palate: Great big savoury flavours of barbecued meats, charred herbs, fresh coffee and a somewhat honeyed mouthfeel, with a drop of orange oil.
  • Finish: Toffee apple and a slight waxy note.

Alas, this Glenturret single cask is sold out – just like the others. When it was available, it could be purchased for the exceedingly reasonable amount of €62.25.

And PS – Turns out the chaps at Master of Malt didn’t quite get the cask detail right. My fellow Mumbai whisky explorer and host checked with the folks at Chorlton who clarified it was just a normal hogshead – not an ex Islay Caol Ila.

We also enjoyed these other Chorlton Single Cask whiskies:

As for other Glenturret experiences, I’m still at early stages having tried only two so far, neither of which had peat:

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LMdW Artist #8 – Glenturret 30 year 55.3%

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We continued exploring the full range of the new La Maison du Whisky Artist #8 series with a Highland dram from Glenturret.

I nearly forgot having tried the Glenturret 10 year back in 2013! Somehow Glenturret just isn’t one of those distilleries our merry Mumbai malters manage to encounter in our travels around the globe.

To then have an opportunity to sample a rather fine specimen of some 30+ years? Well, what a treat!

Glenturret 30 year (1987/2018) Hogshead Cask #371 55.3% (214 bottles)

  • Nose – Peach and other orchard fruits, complex, subtle dusting of sugar, a deeper French vanilla, a sweet perfume… utterly delightful
  • Palate – Delicious!! What a class act and how marvellously balanced. Honey sweet yet not too much so, a bit more depth with a zesty spice.
  • Finish – Long delicate fruits, berries, sweet spices… and oh how it lingers

Truly a lovely whisky with tremendous balance and beauty. Really quite superb. My sampling companions were amused as I was clearly in my “happy place” with this whisky! I would have loved to enjoyed this simply on its own and not part of a teaser sampling with 10 in this series!

Just to keep things in perspective, what would this beauty set you back? If buying in Singapore, it would be SGD 595 (approx US 435).

And what do the folks at La Maison du Whisky have to say?

  • Nose – Ample, rich. Very jammy (mirabelle, queen-claude) and vanilla, the first is also herbaceous (cut hay, alfalfa) and candied (lemon, pear, apricot). At aeration, the malted barley spreads with extreme delicacy over the entire aromatic palette. Then, he becomes more and more greedy (oat cake, leavened bread, raisin bread) and powdered (cocoa bean)
  • Palate – Creamy, creamy. A spicy sequence (star anise, clove) infuses a lot of pep to the attack of mouth. Then, in the process, bunches of white grapes release a wonderfully tart juice and notes of green grass give it a lot of freshness and going. Very gourmet, the mid-palate invites us to pick a variety of vegetables (zucchini, pumpkin, tomato, eggplant). The finish is honey (lime) and oily (sunflower).
  • Finish – Long, fluffy. From now on, it is the exotic fruits (mango, passion, pineapple) which take the leading role. They are accompanied by some red fruits (raspberry, strawberry) and black (blackberry, blackcurrant). This taste development is a real bath of youth for the taste buds. He also demonstrates that this Glenturret is never short of arguments. The retro-olfaction is spicy (star anise, ginger), vanilla and menthol. The empty glass reveals notes of porridge.

—- From LMdW website with an imperfect google translation from French.

La Maison du Whisky Artist #8 sans Sherry

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Glenturret 10 year 40%

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Prompted by a recent revisit of Kichoman’s Machir Bay in Singapore, I decided to unearth from our archives a tasting session which occurred in September 2013 with Glenturret 10 year, Auchentoshan 14 year Cooper’s Reserve and Kilchoman Machir Bay.

It was an evening mad with the cacophony of Ganapati processions, requiring all of us to brave nasty traffic snarls to exclaim by the end of the evening – “It was worth the effort to come!”

Glenturret, Auchentoshan Cooper's Reserve, Kilchoman Machir Bay

Glenturret, Auchentoshan, Kilchoman

Glenturret 10 year 40%

  • Nose – Light sweet nose perhaps with a hint of lemon
  • Taste – Not so sweet on the palate, a bit spicy but still smooth with a tinge of bitter kerela (bitter gourd)
  • Finish – While the finish didn’t linger too long, it was quite pleasant
  • Water – With a couple drops of water, it became even more mellow and an enjoyable light treat

None could guess the distillery though it was clearly not a Speyside or Islay. With the unveiling it was shared this particularly Highland whisky was bought at the distillery and, back in 2013, not readily available beyond the distillery doors…

Glenturret is found on the Turret River in Perthshire. Touted to have been established in 1775 with some earlier elicit efforts from 1715, it claims to be the ‘oldest distillery in Scotland.’ Today it is better known for the “Famous Grouse Experience.”

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