Glasgow 1770 Peated

Thanks again to @cascode for this dram. Here we have my second entry for Glasgow distillery this time, their peated expression. I am excited by this pour as Glasgow have focused on using heather-rich highland peat (think Highland Park), and partnered this up with ex-PX sherry casks (hello again Highland Park play book). Maturation was in virgin white oak, with PX hosting the finishing. Going to take a second to appreciate how thick, dark, and dense this liquid is in the glass. Wow, hopefully this is a sign of richness and depth to come… N: Warming and gentle with delicate floral smoke with a sweet preserved fruit and resin like quality. I don’t find much more than that. I think an overriding denseness to the peat-smoke profile is a little inhibiting, not bad; but not great either. P: Bright, a little prickly, but light and interesting textural arrival. The peat is dominant to me with a slightly rubbery and ashy feel to it rather than a delicate floral or perfume character that I expected. Fresh orange juice brings some refreshing brightness to a plump body of dark dried fruits. F: Medium-short. Palate feeds directly into the finish, smoke turns to ash with a slightly emergent grainy texture. And then poof. Gone. I’m a little disappointed. Perhaps it is unfair to compare to Highland Park, but sherry casks and heathery peat almost demand it, and sadly the comparison for me is that this Glasgow lacks the delicate nuance of a HP malt. i think I can take statements I made about the 1770 Original verbatim and repeat them here: a simple 1-2 delivery that doesn’t get going much past that initial contact. The real shame is that the florals and perfume of supposedly highlands heathery peat just haven’t been unlocked and no complexity has been afforded by the sherry casking, let alone any soft-vanilla tones from the virgin wood finish. The appearance of a deep, dark, luscious dram fails to follow through. Nothing inherently bad or off-putting, but not something I’ll be seeking out. Distiller whisky taste #161 [Price is for 500 ml] [Pictured here with a 1.09 billion year old eudialyte bearing nepheline syenite from the Kipawa alkaline igneous complex in western Quebec, Canada. This pretty lump has pink eudialyte, black arfvedsonite/katophorite, and whitish feldspars. A rough and less pretty, but equally striking counterpart to the equivalent rock pictured with the Glasgow 1770 Original, just like this peated dram].

Nose: Woody, bonfire peat but with a soft, sweet character. Some dried fruit, cured bacon, vanilla nougat and sherry notes but primarily it's the peat you notice. Over time a pine aroma evolves. The dry glass is like a burnt-out campfire. Palate: The palate is sweet, soft and smoky on the arrival with dark fruit and raisins in abundance. There’s quite a bit of sweet orange juice as well and some tropical notes. However there is no development at all. The arrival just tails into the finish. The texture is very light but enjoyable. Finish: Short. The ashy, smoky, fruity notes from the arrival drift towards the distance but stop dead in their tracks just before reaching the horizon. There is a mild peppery flavour sitting in the background throughout. You could be harsh and say the nose on this has a one-note quality, but it’s a very nice one-note. Yes it lacks complexity but there are distant memories of Bowmore (good Bowmore, I hasten to add) and even Lagavulin. It has that rich, dark floral profile … but that’s about all. However it is a good nose and there are no off-notes at all. The peat smoke very adroitly adds a touch of dryness to the profile which balances the innate sweetness of the Glasgow distillate. The palate is simpler and a little bit of a letdown for me. It lacks complexity even more than the nose, but that’s not a fault as such. The problem is that it also lacks weight. The palate and finish are watery and shallow in texture and it seems like the whisky is somehow hollow. There is certainly nothing bad going on here, and for a young whisky from a young distillery it is a great effort. I’m enjoying this dram (which needs no water, by the way), but at the moment it is not a whisky that I would buy for neat sipping. Then again, it would be a very friendly introductory smoky whisky for beginners. It’s good, competitively priced, but just not interesting enough yet. At the moment I see this as mainly a competitor against Monkey Shoulder and the like … the more famous smoky single malts have nothing to fear from this newcomer for now, but give the distillery time. There is a spark of greatness here. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)