We’ve seen a little run of weirdly peated Glenturrets the last few months – here’s the latest – a 7 year old matured in a recharred hogshead. View on SMWS
Nose: Meaty stuff – pork sausage meat, burnt ends and ham sandwiches (on white bread) served with sage and onion stuffing. The smoking is quite varied here – coal dust, rubber tyres and molten plastic bags. With water – ashiness, fish tanks and farminess along with pine needles and stagnant pond water.
Taste: The arrival is powerful and packed full of slightly mad bituminous, sooty, ashy peat. Charred and burnt meats – pork, beef and ham are joined by farmyard sties. In the back-palate, grapefruit and citric tartness are accompanied by chilli pepper heat and a sweaty motorway repair crew. Reduction adds olive brine and salinity with axle grease and exhaust fumes.
Finish: Medium in length with tarmac, rubber and plastic bag alongside drying oakiness.
I’m pleased that the Society notes that this is not for everyone – indeed, it’s quite, quite mad. I’m pretty down with these aroma and flavour combinations, but even so, despite everything being powerfully delivered, there’s a tautness and imbalance here which doesn’t quite permit the lunacy to gel into a totally cohesive whole.
Score: 84/100