Review by: INSERT NAME HERE

Here’s dram number two from Saturday’s trip to the bar, sipped alongside that Balmenach 1978. Glenturret is an interesting and underrated distillery in my experience. I’ve tried the full gamut profiles from them – old tropical waxy ones, farmy and briny ones, and rich decadent sherry bombs, and I haven’t even tried any of those extra-peaty Ruadh Mhor bottlings.

---

Distillery: Glenturret.

Bottler: Signatory Vintage.

Region: Highlands.

ABV: 43%.

Age: 13 years. Distilled November 25th 1988. Bottled December 6th 2001.

Cask type: Cask #823, an “oak cask”

Price: £65.00 at auction.

Color: Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

---

Nose: Bursting with flavour, no 43% mildness here. Funky fermenting malt and fruit – mango, melon, some pineapple, and bubbling wort. More funk – slightly lactic, and a parmesan-ish pungent nuttiness. Spiced notes of biscotti and Angostura. A little bit of shea butter.

Palate: Thick texture. A blast of cayenne-spiked honey, more funky mango, and sweet malt (waffle cone!) on the arrival, turning beeswaxy and a little lactic again. As it develops a woody peat note appears, alongside tobacco ash, fragrant spice, and somewhat cool earth. The beeswax continues to build, and some cantaloupe emerges on the back end.

Finish: Medium, very flavourful. Mango and beeswax. Earthy and smoky. Some dried chilis and, paradoxically, menthol. Hints of pine and licorice.

---

Possible SMWS bottling name: “Killer bees beach blast”

Conclusion: A flavourful blunderbuss of a whisky. Incredible power, plenty of complexity, and wonderful waxy and funky-fruity notes. It’s maybe a bit too funky and aggressive for me to want to score it much higher, but wow, this was good. Both this and the Balmenach were incredibly thick and oily at 43%… what the hell were they feeding the stills back then?

Final Score: 88.

---

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.