Glenturret 13 Year (Berry Brothers & Rudd)

 

The final of my three Berry Brothers and Rudd (BBR) bottles I splurged on: a sherry-matured 13 year peated Glenturret (also known as Ruadh Maor). 

I first experienced peated Glenturret via five exceptional bottles from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The best was probably their 12 year, 16.56 "Distill My Peating Heart." Peated Glenturret is wild and wooly stuff - like Ledaig but turned up to 11; a lot of fresh wood (especially pencil shavings), lime, and smoke. 

The official BBR tasting notes: 

It seems like a smoky beast at first nosing, but it's not such a monster on the first sips. A touch of water brings out an astonishing elegance and complexity, retaining the robustness and full flavour of this rugged Highlander. Leather, blood orange, and rich, ripe tobacco leaf are prevalent, with a delicious earthy salinity underpinning this heavily peated beauty.

Bottled at a bracing 59.8% ABV, matured in a "butt" (sherry, I think it's safe to assume). Let's check this out: 

Nose: The neck pour is super rich: BBQ pork, red wine tannins, fresh-cut herbs, brown bread, those iconic Glenturret pencil shavings. Lord only knows how they achieve that. 

With some water and time in the glass, it calms down a bit from the huge BBQ hit I got before, and it reminds me a bit of Bruichladdich's peated offering, Port Charlotte - rich dry wine notes paired with peat and fruit. I get tawny port (!), leather, grapefruit, lime, and unripe green apple on top of the wood smoke, fresh-sawn wood, and BBQ meat. 

Mouthfeel: Medium, but oily. 

Palate: Much softer and with more depth than the nose - there is a lot of wine complexity here, and a ton of floral elements that are overtaken on the nose by the peat and sherry. The palate is dry - surprisingly so - and makes me suspect this is an amontillado, manzanilla, or oloroso butt. But BBR isn't telling, it seems. 

I get dry wine, a bouquet of lavender and other field flowers, baking spices (allspice especially), fresh-sawn wood or sharpened pencils, and a subtle underlying honey sweetness. Surprisingly deep and complex. 

With water: Still quite dry and woody, but a little less floral and more spiced honey. Plenty of yeast (sherry's flor), and mushroom, and dry sherry everywhere. This is definitely something like Amontillado or a dry-as-a-bone Oloroso. Maybe a touch of cherry stone.

Finish: Long and dry: woodsmoke, peat, baking spices, dried and pressed flowers, fresh-cut oak planks. With water, cherry and leather are added. 

Verdict: A nice, rich peated Glenturret with lots of intriguing sherry undertones. I'd guess a second-fill Oloroso butt? Because usually unusual sherry casking like Manzanilla or Amontillado get special mention (and pricing...) on a label. Oloroso can be dry as a bone and still impart a lot of the white wine type flavors I'm picking up here. 

Lots of depth, more than expected, and it makes me wish I still had one or two of the SMWS bottles to compare against. Good stuff, and worth finding if you like that dry Highland style of peat.