46 Whisky Magazine | Issue 161Distillery Focus Glenturret
definitely be doing more with wine
casks in the future. We’ll be using casks
from Spain, France and the USA. At
present we are filling first-fill European
and American oak sherry casks, refill
casks and wine casks.”
John Laurie admits that, “The
Glenturret portfolio has always
struggled from a lack of attention and
that shows in the figures. We sold 4,000
cases in 2018. Our existing Sherry,
Triple Wood and Peated expressions
have been around since 2015 and the
10-years-old since 2003. However, with
a new budget for marketing spend,
the 2019 pre-orders for the core range
are almost triple that of last year, with
orders being shipped out to Russia,
Ontario and New Zealand. The new
portfolio from Glenturret will be ready
to present to the public in Summer
2020 and we are really excited to share
with the world some of the jewels that
have been sleeping in out warehouse.”
While Glenturret’s principal bottlings
may not have set the heather on fire of
late, the distillery’s limited edition and
single cask offerings – including the
29-years-old Cameron’s Cut in 2017- have received very positive reviews.
Given the strength in depth of stocks
acquired by Glenturret Holding, it
seems a fair bet that more such releases
will be a feature of the new regime.
Looking to changes to the distillery
itself, Ian Renwick notes, “We are
always going to be niche, so we want
to do everything very well. There will
be a major revamp of all visitor areas- the retail area, the tasting bar and
the restaurant, starting first with the
restaurant and bar.”
There are also plans to increase
production significantly, and Renwick
explains that “We will very much
have one eye on tradition and one on
quality as we step up production in
the future. For the last few years we’ve
been making around 170,000 litres per
annum, and that figure is going up to
205,000lpa for this year, with 10 to 12
mashes per week, Eventually, our plan
is to triple output.”
Glenturret is currently equipped with
a unique open mash tun in which there
are no rakes or stirring equipment of
any kind. An ultra-low-tech wooden
pole is used to turn the contents of the
vessel by hand.
The pair of manually-controlled
stills is run very slowly, processing
around nine litres per minute, whereas
some distilleries would double that
rate of throughput. The wash still is
equipped with a large ‘boil ball’ giving a
significant amount of reflux and copper
interaction. Combined with the slow
rate of distillation, following lengthy
fermentation in wooden washbacks,
this makes for fruity, floral notes in the
spirit being produced.
According to Ian Renwick, “As we
increase production, there will be many
challenges to face, but our objective is
to remain ‘hand-made,’ whilst reducing
energy and creating a commercially
viable product. This process will see us
engaging the services of many industry
experts to help us interrogate our
process and find ways to improve it,
whilst protecting its style.”
Glenturret started distilling peated
whisky – known as Ruadh Mhor,
‘Big Red’ – back in 2009, largely for
inclusion in Black Grouse, now known
as Smoky Black, and Ian Renwick says
that “We won’t be making any this year,
but we’ve got peated feints sitting, so
we could soon start it up again, and
we’ve got peated stock laid down still.”
One perceived advantage of the
change of ownership at Glenturret is the
fact that whereas previously, Edrington
tended to use centralised suppliers and
tradespeople, “We will be working with
local suppliers more than in the past,”
says Ian Renwick. “It allows us to get
back to our roots again. It’s brilliant
for the area and the town of Crieff.
It’s the first time in a long time that
Glenturret’s had an opportunity like
this. The future’s incredibly bright.”This page:
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