LeeEvolved
Glasgow 1770 Single Malt Release No. 1
Single Malt — Lowlands , Scotland
Reviewed
September 17, 2019 (edited September 19, 2019)
Welcome to the Scottish Lowland’s (technically, since Glasgow is considered in the lowland region) newest distillery: Glasgow Distillery. It was founded in 2012 and they released this bottle, called 1770, in 2018. The single malt contained herein is a blend of mostly 4-5 year old juice. This is the first release from the distillery and it was made from whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks before a short, finishing treatment in virgin oak casks. It’s non-chill filtered, but has some added color, and was bottled at 46%. A total of 5,000 bottles were filled and distributed by the distillery through a pre-sale order. Demand was so high that they stopped the bottling at 5,000 and limited buyers to just one bottle per person. They have since upped production and made a second release with a 2019 Vintage declaration on the label and they are also in the process of releasing a peated version of the 1770 line.
This is a deep gold in color with very thin legs, while appearing oily with fast-running legs. The nose is grassy and biscuity, with vanilla creams and butterscotch candies forming the sweet aspect. The ABV is well-hidden along with the barrel notes. I expected more wood presence with the virgin oak finishing, but it truly must’ve been quick and meant just to keep the sweetness in check.
The palate is orchard fruit prominence: green apples, pears and pressed raisins. Butterscotch candy also adds some depth, even if it is mostly a rich and creamy aspect. By mid sip it begins to turn hot with a drier than expected mouth feel. Some fresh oak appears to finally add a backbone. It never truly reaches a luscious feeling, but it also isn’t overly harsh or abrasive. That’s a promising start to a new whisky from a brand new distillery.
The finish is medium length with some wood and pepper spice finally asserting itself, while a very nice orange and blackberry jam flavor lingers into the final moments. It’s delicious and a very pleasant surprise.
Overall, this is an exciting start to a brand-spanking new distillery. It won’t wow you with depth, but I gotta think that a 12-15 year old example that’s been matured in quality ex-bourbon casks will offer up some serious complexity down the road. I’m also curious as to how well this stuff will take to some rich, Oloroso sherry cask finishing. Lowland whisky usually pairs well with softer sherry and red wine casks, so I hope this is in the works for Glasgow. I could become another quality, Lowland whisky supplier. This pour, thanks to my buddy @PBMichiganWolverine, is an exciting start and a quality dram. Something tells me a lot of these bottles won’t get opened and enjoyed, however, as it’s the inaugural release and collectors have already hoarded a lot of these away. Sadly, I missed my chance to do this. 3.75 stars. Cheers, my friends.
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Wait....... fireman 🚒 just popped up as well. :)
@LeeEvolved - this seems counterintuitive but im guessing a job in law enforcement. 3 reasons: good investigative skills, good at filling out paperwork and spending habits. :)
@PBMichiganWolverine @Rick_M - thanks for the kind words. It’s easier for me to write a more thorough review when I’m stuck at work in the middle of the night with nothing much to do but try and stay awake lol. I just read that they are expecting to produce 1 million bottles a year, so I would think they are planning on flooding the market in the near future. That seems quite high if they aren’t manufacturing some whisky for use in someone’s blend.
@LeeEvolved - nice review!
Drove by this distillery last year while doing a quick tour of Glasgow on our way to Royal Troon. Our Glasgow friend spoke highly of their gin. Good size operation.
You write so much better than I do...way more descriptive! When I was having this, I kept comparing in my mind to Kilchoman when it first came out. Probably a bad comparison since that’s Islay. But Kilchoman is my baseline for the best newcomer ( when it was a newcomer), until most recently when Daftmill blew me away.
@LeeEvolved I’m perennially amused by the striving for artificial consistency of colour, and the assumption that “darker is better”. Nothing cheers my heart more than pouring a nice old single-cask dram and finding it to be little darker than a chablis :-)
@cascode - yes, it does appear they are going for more of an artisan-style, craft distillery to cater to the locals of Glasgow and trying to capitalize on the historic location and previous nameplate. They also don’t appear to be sending much, if any, malt towards any famous blending houses. An educated guess would be that the youthful age of the spirit and the ex-bourbon and virgin oak maturation didn’t allow it time to pick up the deeper color they may have hoped for? I can see them wanting their first release looking it’s best, even if it’s done artificially. Perhaps they’re hoping the locals can overlook that?
@LeeEvolved Good review - I've been waiting for stocks of this to make it to our shores, but it looks like it will be a while yet. It is curious that in the current whisky environment a new distillery with modest output would choose to add E150 to their single malt, particularly when everything else about it seems quite "artisan".
@LeeEvolved Ah yes I forgot about the earlier review I read several months ago from PBM. Quite different opinions!
@Soba45 - thanks. I see that @PBMichiganWolverine wasn’t a big fan, so my hopes were subdued when he sent me a pour, but I was very surprised. Hopefully, Glasgow can stay relevant long enough to see their stocks age gracefully. Fingers crossed.
Nice review. I was wondering what this distillery would be like as it had been popping up in the news a bit over the last year or two. It's going to get a bit hard to keep up with them all. Ireland alone has gone from 3 or 4 to nearly 50 in progress or planned