Glenturret 6 Year (SMWS 16.46 "Cooking on a Rusty Grill")

 

This is my first experience with Glenturret, a distillery fairly south in the Highlands. An independent bottle presented by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), this is peated, aged for 6 years in a re-charred hogshead and bottled at a very stiff 64.9%. Nicknamed "Cooking on a Rusty Grill." Let's see what I can find...

Nose: At first, pungently medicinal - iodine, fresh gauze, hospital corridors, incinerator smoke. Underneath, something interesting lurks... a pear glaze on a pastry? Something fruity and bready, but obfuscated by the roils and moils of smoke. With water (and you want to experiment with water, given the 64.9%), the fruit comes out a bit more: something like Earl Grey tea, poached pears, peat smoke, and cardamom. Intriguing. After time in the glass, it unwinds into a kind of sweetened peppered BBQ sauce, which is quite nice. 

Mouthfeel: Thick as a brick - very oily. 

Palate: Surprisingly consistent with the nose - medicinal qualities, smoke for days, and an underlying sweetness that I really like. The palate is sweeter than the nose - it's almost a presentation of sugared gauze pads, neat. With water, it becomes both sweeter and more savory: sugar cookies and steak off the grill. Quite soft, despite the peating and the heavy alcohol. Nice presentation. After some time in the glass, a hot sauce element emerges (!). The official SMWS notes say "Tabasco," which I suppose I will endorse. 

Finish: Smoke, thick wafts of smoke, and that recharred oak. A medicinal sweetness persists, with water or without - cloying iodine. 

Verdict: If this is Glenturret ... I like it. This reminds me so much of a heavily peated Islay dram, like Laphroaig, with the sweetness combating the medicinal elements. It bites hard, at only 6 years old, and really needs to be tamped down with water. But it's worth it - an interesting whisky. "Cooking on a Rusty Grill" was apparently called "Texas BBQ Briskit" or something similar in the UK. I find the whisky sweeter than most BBQ I've had, but I understand the analogy.