Review by: The Muskox

I’m off for another work shift into the northern Canadian wilderness, so I’ll be taking a break from whisky for a month. While I’ve still got WiFi at the airport, I figured I’ll get out a couple reviews from my backlog…

Many bottlings of Glenturret at this young age tend to be peated nowadays, but this one is an exception. North Star’s own tasting notes tend to be brief and humorous: for this bottling, they describe the nose as “sweet & salted monkey nuts”. I’m not sure I’ll be able to improve on that.

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Distillery: Glenturret.

Bottler: North Star Spirits.

Region: Highlands.

ABV: 58.3%. Cask strength.

Age: 8 years. Distilled in December 2010. Bottled in 2019.

Cask type: Refill hogshead.

Price: N/A, sample.

Color: Pale. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Whoa, that’s funky. There’s a pungent, green, farmy, slightly new-make-y note sitting on top, as well as something yeasty and something lactic. I saw someone on Whiskybase write “sour cream and chive”, which seems spot on to me. Slightly stanky earth, green olives, preserved lemon. There’s some sweetness underneath: a little bit of banana bread with walnuts and some buttered popcorn. Smoked salmon and cream cheese on a bagel?

Palate: Medium texture. New-makey on the arrival, with young malt and grass, then developing to huge tobacco. Charred oak, leather pants, burning stables, and some coffee grounds. Chocolate babka and orange jellies. Salted root vegetable chips.

Finish:

Medium-short and dry-tart. Hay and salted mixed nuts. Lingering tobacco and olive brine. A hint of brown sugar. Lingering toasted sesame oil and lemon peel.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Cow-napés and horse d’oeuvres”

Conclusion: This is bizarrely tasty. I usually don’t go for these sorts of very new-makey kinds of whiskies, but this one somehow works. It’s packed with earthy farmy funk, and all sorts of interesting tart-savoury-foodish kinds of flavours that reminds me of some sorts of tapas plates or hors d’oeuvres platters. It drinks like a young peated whisky, almost Ledaig-ish, it’s just not peated. So… Tobermory-ish? It isn’t something I’d reach for every day, but the quality is there.

Final Score: 83.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.