Whisky : Glenturret Ruadh Maor 6 Year SMWS 16.45 “Womble pie”

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 66.3%

Cask : Re-charred Hogshead

Age : 6 Years (Distilled 10 July 2013)

Nose : Meat, spice, and farmyard funk. Cured meats with a peppercorn crust, salt water tide pools with limu covered rocks, and pony rides at the petting zoo.  Faint notes of earthy manure, vinegar, and meat collided in the nose.  Sweet notes of vanilla custard secretly eaten behind grassy hay bales.

Palate : Thick body, almost creamy, with notes of earth, meat, and salt.  Wafting earthy smoke and roasted pork from a freshly uncovered ‘imu, an earthen oven.  Savory-salty barbecue meat with a vinegar sauce developed on the palate with a mild ashiness.  Crisp notes of saltwater and kelp pulled this dram toward the sea while notes of sweet cream, which became more prominent with water, pointed toward dessert.  

Finish : Long with a mild dryness.  Chocolate, hay, and fresh cracked pink peppercorns.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Petting Zoo BBQ

Notes : This was wonderfully funky and with a surprising amount of coastal-seeming notes  This Glenturret was wonderful with wonderful depth and complexity for only six years in the cask.  I was not sure what to expect with this one, I have tried a number of other ten year Glenturrets with our local tasting group, but six years did seem on the young side.  In retrospect I probably should have remembered just how delicious Bunnahabhain Staioisha, Kilchoman, and Octomore are at only six years, I would have been less surprised.

Overall, this was a wonderful peaty blast.  It had tons of delicious funky-earth and meat notes that paired well with a maritime undercurrent and a delightfully thick body.  A few drops of water brought out more cream and hints of fruit, but even at cask strength this was pleasant to sip on.  This was not the first Glenturret to remind me of a petting zoo and I absolutely love the note in it that strikes me as slightly animal-funk.