Skailg: A wee livener with...Tom Morton

Glenturret: Centre of the whisky world

I’ve never actually measured the distances, but Glenturret Distillery sits pretty much at the centre of Scotland, in lovely Perthshire. At least that’s what my friends and colleagues Rob Allanson - editor of Whisky

Magazine - Ken Hamilton and I agreed when setting off to make a whisky which combined Scotland’s geographical extremes into a single bottling.

In 2009 the three of us set off on three traditional British motorcycles - two Triumphs and a Royal Enfield - to visit the distilleries at the extreme points of the compass in Scotland, collect samples from each and then blend the results with the whisky produced at the distillery nearest Scotland’s centre.

We would then produce 50 bottles of this exceedingly special whisky for sale, along with a book and a TV series. The book is long sold out but the TV programmes, made for what was then single Malt TV, can be viewed online here.

Glenturret

Photo by Stewart Cunningham

We had great fun, experienced a few scary moments and we made a fine whisky. I will remember for the rest of my life that blending session in the Glenturret boardroom, overseen by John Ramsay, head blender for the Edrington Group which then owned Glenturret. We had Highland Park (northernmost),

Glen Garioch (furthest east) Kilchoman from Islay (most westerly) and Bladnoch from Wigtown (southernmost). And Glenturret of course.

Nowadays, Abhainn Dearg from Lewis would probably be the whisky made at Scotland’s western extreme, but our 1500-mile trip is still the only time anyone has attempted such a venture. We called the whisky Journey’s Blend. Bottles occasionally come up for sale on auction sites.

Glenturret, though, was a revelation to me. I had visited it years previously when researching my book Spirit of Adventure, but this tiny repository of traditional whisky making charmed and impressed me second time around. It was, and still is, a hugely popular attraction for tourists on the outskirts of Crieff - not least because it hosted the presence on site of The Famous Grouse

Experience, a visitor centre celebrating the Edrington blend which is Scotland’s own favourite blended whisky. And which of course contains Glenturret along with grain whisky and other single malts.

That all began to change last year, when Edrington finalised the sale of Glenturret so they could concentrate on their higher profile brands, Macallan and Highland Park. The purchaser of Glenturret could not be more high-end - the Lalique Group, along with Swiss entrepreneur Hansjorgg Wyss, now own the distillery, the warehouses and all stocks held there - over a million litres of whisky. As perhaps the world’s most famous makers of art glassware, Lalique have announced their intention of combining the whisky at the heart of Scotland with some highly desirable containers.

The still house at Glenturret

Photo by Kenny Lam/VisitScotland

The chairman of Lalique is Swiss wine connoisseur Silvio Denz, who said at the time of the sale that “Glenturret will be the perfect addition to our portfolio as we enter the world of Scotch whisky.” A statement from Lalique added that the stock of ageing whisky “will allow the blending of high-end single malts with ages ranging from 10 to 40 years, including various special editions.”

Glenturret’s history is fascinating. The site, secluded and with ready access to good water supplies, was a long-standing favourite of the smugglers, as the makers of illegal whisky were called. There has been distilling on the site since at least 1717, with the first official distillery established in 1775.

A fairly chequered series of closures and takeovers led in 1957 to purchase by James Fairlie, who was committed to making whisky in as traditional a way as possible, a mash tun where the initial mixing of milled, malted barley and water is done by hand. It’s tiny, and one of only six places in Scotland where hard physical labour is involved in this part of the process.

Glenturret spirit safe

Photo by Stewart Cunningham

For a long time, Glenturret was most famous for its cat, Towser. Most distilleries have a cat, or more than one, as rodents are a problem when so much barley is stored. ‘Towser the Mouser’ a female tortoiseshell, lived to the ripe old age of 24 and between 1963 and 1987 ruled Glenturret with claws of iron.

She was an official Guinness Book of Records record breaker, with an estimated 28,899 dead mice to her credit. They were laid out on the floor of the still house every morning to be inspected by the stillman. The Guinness people came up with the lifetime figure from several days of observation and counting! Towser has her own statue at the distillery. She was succeeded by not one, but two cats, Dylan and Brooke, who reputedly did not come up to Towser’s exacting standards. A couple of tabbies Glen (orange) and Turret (grey) currently handle the on-site pest control.

I should say that my first visit to Glenturret, nearly 30 years ago, saw me sneaking for free into what was then one of the few distillery tours which actually charged an entry fee (£2, including a free dram). Glenturret and Glenfiddich pioneered the concept of the visitor centre, something no distillery today is complete without. In fact the visitor centre is often the priority for new-build ‘craft’ distillers as it offers up an income stream (along with the inevitable sale of new make spirit and gin) while the statutory three years passes before the product of a still, aged in oak, can be called and sold as Scotch Whisky.

The new owners are promising to increase production and come up with some super-luxury bottlings. For the moment, the main expressions available come at around £45-47 a bottle. They are The Glenturret Sherry Cask Edition, made with unpeated malt and aged exclusively in European sherry casks; The Glenturret Triple Wood, again using unpeated malt and aged in American oak ‘seasoned’ with sherry, European oak, again treated with sherry; and The Glenturret Peated Edition. None of these bottlings have age statements and will contain whiskies from a variety of years. You can read my tasting notes for the first two of those whiskies below.

There are also limited editions, two at the moment: The Glenturret 30-Year-Old draws on those old stocks of traditional sherry transport and American oak casks mentioned above, and will set you back £449. If you can get one of 1750 bottles in its limited release. Breabach was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the folk band of that name (check them out on The Musical Correspondent online radio show) in a limited edition of just 1000 bottles, at £145 each.

Glenturret has refined its visitor experience as both demand and the expertise of tourists have increased. Now you can pay up to £500 for an immersive behind the scenes adventure which will involve you intimately in the making of whisky. There are cheaper experiences - three whiskies matched with local fudge, a specialist photography opportunity and access to the warehouses. And of course there is the ‘ordinary’ tour as well.

The Glenturret’s motto is ‘by hand and by heart’, though ‘the whisky from the heart of Scotland’ rings more true to my own experience. It’s more than worth a visit...and a tasting!

Tasting Notes

The Glenturret Sherry Edition

NOSE: That first sniff is all warehouse (Glenturret use traditional stone walled ‘dunnage’ warehousing to store their casks in low buildings with earth floors, and the casks no more than three high). Old stone, earth, wood and ash. Then you catch the blast of sherried oak.

MOUTH: Surprising after that blast of warehouse age comes a bright, young, lively spirit with melon and citrus fruit, laced with honey and then tablet and toffee.

FINISH and BREATHE: The sweetness gives way to pleasant warmth without the jagged edge you sometimes find in no-age bottlings. There’s butterscotch there and a hint of extra virgin olive oil.

Overall: A good, light aperitif or lunchtime dram. At 43 percent alcohol, no need to add water.

The Glenturret Triple Wood

NOSE: A walk in a pine forest near a river, giving way to high moorland in late summer. The aroma is fresh and airy. I’m thinking of a walk up the Munro Ben Chomzie (its snow melt gives Glenturret part of its water supply). After a while the sherry notes begin to cut through. A lesson in wood smells!

MOUTH: Sweeter than the sherry edition, sharper and with a touch of sherbet and American Cream Soda or vanilla ice cream. Extremely well balanced with just the slightest nip in the air indicating approaching autumn.

FINISH and BREATHE: There’s a certain dark pungency which creeps in, tannins and an bit of a punch, as from a good young claret.

Overall: More complex than the Sherry edition with a tart finish which is very appealing. Ideal for long walks in the hills or moors, from a hipflask. Or taken at home to remind you of them. Again, at 43 percent, no need for water.

NOTE: Samples were purchased from Master of Malt’s excellent Drinks By The Dram series, which supplies 3cl samples of whiskies and other spirits.