Tasting Notes: Glenturret: 10 Year

Glenturret: 10 Year (Scottish Single Malt Highland Whisky: 10 year: 40% ABV)

Visual: A quite dark yellowed grain.

Viscosity: Quite fast thick streaks,

Nose: Lime, vanilla, heather and oak. Kiwi. Hay fields. Slightly quickslivery (No not actual quicksilver, just that odd alcoholic feel). Dry fudge. With water becomes muted and broth like.

Body: Thick textured. Custard and sponge. Lime. Heather. No alcohol burn. More citrus styled with water. Also adds fudge and cream.

Finish: Oak, heather and chocolate. Toffee. After eight mints. Tangerine. Slight tingle of alcohol here.

Conclusion: This is very smooth for a ten year whisky. The alcohol is hinted at in the aroma but nigh non existent in the smooth and creamy body. Nicely done Glenturret. Nicely done.

It plays with a nice mix of sweet toffee and custard against a citrus zing. Very open and approachable. It doesn’t really need water and possibly is even harmed by it.  If this whisky was easier to find I could very easily imagine it taking over from dalwhinnie as a good easygoing introductory dram.

The balance of citrus and sweet is such that they oft bring to mind the penny sweets of my youth (ok, I’m showing my age here) Chocolate limes, chocolate orange or after eight mints (Yes, I know after eight mints were never penny sweet nor is mint part of the citrus range, just run with me on this one). Despite this the flavours never get sickly and are always backed by a light heather fields nature.

It’s thus quite a complex mix for such an easy going whisky. I was impressed by the slow build up flavour, from custard, through citrus into chocolate. The change in flavours over time as they build on the tongue is very nicely done, and a good lifecycle of flavour for a measure.  I haven’t had the chance to see how it would handle over a multiple measure sitting though. Would be interesting to investigate.

A very soothing yet tasty dram.

Background: Claiming to be the oldest Distillery in Scotland (Yeah, like we haven’t heard that one before) this is surprisingly hard to fined as a single malt.  Looks like it’s a component of the Famous Grouse so it’s possible a good chunk of it goes in there.  Found a miniature of it in Soho in London so thought I’d take the opportunity to give it a try without committing to a full bottle.