A fine Scottish Whiskey

On occasion, Linda and I both enjoy a glass of Single Malt Scotch Whiskey so we were determined to visit at least one distillery when in Scotland.
A natural choice was the Dewar’s distillery as it was close to the AirBnB we were sharing with my sister.
Alas, it was closed so we started to look for others that were not too far away to drive to. As it turned out, The Glenturret Distillery, Scotland’s oldest whiskey distillery was less than one hour away! We booked for the tour and off we went.

The tour was awesome!

The tour guide explained that the Glenturret distillery still operates with the original equipment and “only” produces 200,000 liters of whiskey per year, way less than some of the larger, better known, brands. They like it that way though, as it allows them to maintain a more, “hand crafted” approach, honoring the traditional distilling methods that are hundreds of years old. They even measure their alcohol content without any modern devices, instead using a method with water and glass tubes. Many of the other (perhaps better known) distilleries have had to automate these processes in order to speed-up and increase their production.

The Glenturret Distillery also, quite proudly, announced that just earlier this year several of their whiskeys had won awards. In March 2023 The Glenturret Triple Wood received the International Wine and Spirit Competition’s (IWSC) highest accolade with a score of 99. Then, in April 2023, two of their other whiskeys were awarded the Grand Gold Award at the International Trophy Awards. The winning whiskeys were The Glenturret 10 Years Old and the The Glenturret 15 Years Old, very prestigious labels they have achieved multiple times.

Traditional methods

When touring the plant, it was very evident this was a traditional and small distillery. There was only a single still and the roasting machine (for barley) was 126 years old and still in use. They made the comment that the original manufacturer had gone out of business, simply because their machines never broke down – not surprising, but quite amazing.

They get their water for the distillation process from Loch Turret, not the river Turret that runs right past the plant. The main reason they don’t uses that water is the amount of sheep in the pastures that the creek runs through.

By the way, “Glen” is the Scottish word for “Valley” so the distillery’s name literally means “Valley of Turret” and the distillery lies at the entrance to the valley.

Needless to say, the tour ended with a tasting. We got to sample two different whiskeys, their “10 year old” version and one with a hint of “Peat”, a smokey flavor that comes from toasting the barley with heat from burning Peat, the locally sourced organic material that, when dried and turned into briquettes, burns nicely, very similar to coal.

We really liked the peated version, so much so, we ordered a bottle online, it will be delivered to my sister’s house in Gouda, the Netherlands where it will be waiting for us when we get there.

As a small side note, the Glenturret distillery used to have a cat, to get ride of the mice that inevitably will enter the rooms where the barrels are left to age. This cat, named Towser, was entered in the Guinness Book of Records for having caught the largest number of mice ever caught by a cat. No idea how they counted this cat’s conquests, but the book of records state it was a massive 28,899 mice in her lifetime. She lived until the grand old age of 24! There is a statue with a plaque of her in their courtyard.

Now we can’t wait until we get that bottle when we next see my sister.