Glenturret Ruadh Maor 8 Year SMWS 16.38 “ACME ghost repellent”
Whisky : Glenturret Ruadh Maor 8 Year SMWS 16.38 “ACME ghost repellent”
Country/Region : Scotland/Highlands
ABV : 59.3%
Cask : Rechar Hogshead
Age : 8 Years (Distilled Nov. 25, 2010)
Nose : Pungent caramel, butterscotch, dried banana, sheep, and blood. This dram goes places, lots of places. Metallic-iron iodine give the impression of blood while many of the fruity notes taste a bit old and spoiled. Spoiled black banana, old papaya, and burst rotten strawberry guavas— tropical pig pen pig snacks.
Palate : Autumn flavors tumble out of the glass: straw, pumpkin patch, zucchini bread, gourds, and sheep pen. Sweetened condensed milk, burnt grass, and a bit of burnt fatty steak. The dram has great presence as vegetable notes give way to strawberry guava and pog (passion orange guava) juice. A metallic almost iodine note develops near the end like a meaty ham hock or blood sausage.
Finish : Lingering brown sugar caramel with a slight mineral quality.
Score : 7
Mental Image : Overripe Mountain Guava
Something Better : Port Charlotte 8Y Ex-Rum; Dramfool (similar starch, tropical fruit, & farm funk)'
Something Similar : Laphroaig “Williamson” 7 Year; The Maltman (similar meaty/blood/metallic notes)
Something Worse : Glendronach 10Y SMWS 96.30 (similar condensed milk and tropical fruit)
Notes : A divisive whisky for sure— at our tasting event it received nearly an equal split between those who picked it for best of the evening verses though who picked it as the drain pour of the evening. The question seemed to be: do you like weird funky barnyard animal notes? If you love an earthy dram reminiscent of Port Charlotte, then this is perfect for you— if not, steer clear. If I could go back, I would definitely have bought a bottle for myself… and so that is exactly what I did when some more Glenturrets appeared.
This was absolutely lovely. SMWS has bottled a number of young heavily peated Glenturret lately with very similar stats in terms of cask and age, but which have presented very different flavor profiles. I love the variation and the depth of flavor in these young punchy casks. This was absolutely brilliant and became even better with extra time to breath and even a few drops of water (though I would be conservative with the water as I do think this one can get a bit too washed out for me).
