Glasgow 1770 10yo

Back in March 2015 a small team started filling casks with their new spirit from stills Tara and Mhairi.

I'm sure most of us have enjoyed their releases over the years but this month they released a special 10yo

The original Glasgow Distillery was founded in 1770, and like their modern counterpart, produced unpeated, peated, and triple distilled single malt until its eventual closure in 1902.

In 2013 founders Liam Hughes and Mike Hayward started building a distillery, the following year they released a gin. Unpeated double distillation started in 2015 with their first cask being filled on the 5th March 2015. Peated distillation started a year later in 2016 and Triple Distillation in 2017. Their first release was in June 2018.

The distilling process takes place in a single building with malted barley, sourced from around the UK, is mashed with local soft Scottish water is sourced from Loch Katrine, fermented for a minimum of 72 hours using MG Pinnacle Distillers Yeast and then slowly distilled within small copper pot stills; 2,500-litre wash still, and a 1,500-litre spirit still. These stills are run very slowly to produce a dark fruit-forward new make spirit. A medium cut point of 72% - 63% is taken giving a fruity new make spirit which has a waxy tactility across the palate.

Casks are matured in a warehouse next door.

Glasgow distil three different types of spirit:

Unpeated	Peated	Triple Distilled
Double Distilled using unpeated barley. Majority of spirit matured in ex-bourbon casks.	Double Distilled using peated barley. Majority of spirit matured in virgin American Oak casks.	Triple Distilled using unpeated barley. Majority of spirit matured in ex-bourbon casks, some in Virgin Oak.
White cask end	Black cask end	White cask end with 3 pot stills

Glasgow's core range consists of:

• Original : unpeated barley matured in ex-bourbon with a 6mth virgin oak finish, this is available at 46% and Cask Strength at around 60%
  
  
• Peated : peated barley matured in virgin oak with a 10-12mth PX finish, this is available at 46% and Cask Strength at around 60%
  
  
• Triple Distilled : unpeated triple distilled spirit for a marriage of ex-bourbon and virgin oak maturations available at 46%
  
  

There have been lots of single cask and small batch releases finished in port, wine, sherry and beer casks as shown in the table above.

For this Limited Release Edition Glasgow picked the 10th cask that was laid down. Cask No. 15/10, a single 200 litre refill bourbon barrel, was filled on 20th March 2015 with unpeated spirit, left to mature for 10 years and bottled on 24th March 2025 at 54% ABV.

Mike Heywood, one of the founders, said:

"We're incredibly proud to present this milestone bottling as we mark a decade of whisky making. With notes of pear tart tatin, heather honey, green apples, lemon zest, melon, pineapple, and a dusting of cinnamon, this fruit-forward dram is perfect for spring. Releasing our oldest expression exclusively to The Glasgow Distillery Community recognises all the support and encouragement we have received from our supporters who have followed us throughout our journey to date. For our first 10 Year Old release we wanted to offer our followers a look at our decade-old whisky without too much influence from finishing casks or secondary maturation. Having been filled in a refill bourbon cask fully for ten years, this whisky is a true demonstration of the wonderfully fruity and vibrant character of the whisky we make at The Glasgow Distillery. With this milestone bottling we raise a glass in toast to our Community, thank them for their backing over the last ten years and look forward to another ten and beyond!"

230 bottles were made available to the Glasgow Distillery Community.

Bottler notes:

 

Nose: The nose is bright and vibrant with notes of crisp green apples and fresh pears accompanied by delicate fresh lychee, ripe pineapple and citrus marmalade leading to a subtle dusting of icing sugar atop a rich vanilla sponge cake.

 

Palate: The palate is soft and balanced with notes of vanilla custard, orange peel and lemon zest, baked apple, and a rich floral heather honeyed sweetness. Freshly sliced pear leads to indulgent notes of baked caramelised pear tarte tatin.

 

Finish: Velvety crème brûlée and white chocolate on the finish with a sprinkle of desiccated coconut. Lingering notes of honeyed fruit with a touch of warming cinnamon.

Let's see what it's like.... 

Appearance: Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.

Nose: lemon bonbons and icing sugar to start, tropical fruit then develops giving pineapple, mango and kiwi. There's some trifle fingers, honey and a hint of ginger. A little time and air offers apples and poached pears again with a little icing sugar.

Palate: thick sweet oily arrival, honey, toffee and that icing sugar note from the nose followed immediately by a bite of ginger spice, The lemon bonbons from the nose are back with lovely Inchmurrin-style tropical notes and CWY-style effervescence on the tongue. Oooh I'm liking this! Baked apples, stuffed with raisins and covered in vanilla custard. after each sip the effervesce appears followed by a bite of ginger, and maybe cinnamon spice. Then before you know it the Glencairn is empty and you need to pour another - dangerously drinkable!

Finish: lingering honey sweetness, ginger spice and citrus peel.

Overall: Wow - it's what we've been asking for 'plain' ex-bourbon to get the real Glasgow Distillery character, even better it's a refill cask so it's the spirit which is shining through! Lots of nods towards LL's Inchmurrin style spirit and even a hint of CWY effervescence - but this spirit is from a swan neck pot still using MG Pinnacle Distillers Yeast. 

As I get older, it's my birthday tomorrow actually! I find that it's the simple things that give me most pleasure and great spirit left to mature in relatively in-active refill bourbon casks tick all of the boxes! 

Huge congrats to the team at Glasgow Distillery on reaching the 10yo milestone, can't wait to see what the future brings!