The Glenturret Distillery

PR visit / All thoughts and opinions are, of course, my own.

When our driver picked us up from Edinburgh to take us in to the highlands to The Glenturret, we had no idea that the distillery just had the announcement that it – as the only whisky distillery in the world – had gained a Michelin star for their new restaurant!

The Glenturret Distillery

We got shown around the distillery by the lovely Alex, who has a vast knowledge of whisky as well as a great sense of humour. One of my favourite stories about The Glenturret is the tale of Towser, the record-holding mouse catcher that lived at the distillery. Towser usually left the tails of the mice she caught outside of the distillery managers door and Guinness World of Records actually came by to take note of how many that ‘Towser The Mouser’ managed to catch. If there calculation is correct it’s an impressive 28.899! Nowadays it’s only Towsers spirit that haunts the distillery, but two new feline habitants Glen and Turret live on the grounds. You can actually see a hole in the wall by the still room where they get in and out – and of course a toasty warm still room is the perfect place to go for a nap.

I never had the chance to see The Glenturret before it was taken over by Lalique, but the look of it is impressive. I can imagine it is a fairly big change from when it was home of The Famous Grouse. As the distillery is located fairly close to Gleneagles I can imagine the clientele from the hotel will fit right in with the luxury aspect of the high end glassware. If I could afford the whisky glasses that you can see in the photo below, then I would definitely invest in a pair. I really like the look of the new Glenturret bottles as well, and in my opinion are definitely an upgrade to the old ones, which would easily be overlooked on a shelf, next to other more eye-catching bottle designs.

It’s an interesting range of whiskies – especially if you like both peated and unpeated whisky. For our tasting we tried the Peat Smoked 10, the 12 and also the 15. I believe the 15 is sold out in many places at the moment, but this was probably my favourite. Well rounded sherry flavours, although at 53% a few drops of water were needed for balance and to allow the notes to shine through the alcohol. The Peat Smoked 10 sat wonderfully at 50% and had a lighter smoke character and the 12 at 46% showed off the distillery character in combination with the influence of both European and American oak. It will certainly be interesting to see what The Glenturret will release in the future, as the stock will change and develop with the change of ownership.

The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant

1★ Michelin Star

I had never before had the pleasure of eating at a Michelin recognised restaurant (but funnily enough I got a visit to The Kitchin in Edinburgh for my birthday last week) so to be one of the first people to eat somewhere which just got its star was very special indeed. I ordered Oysters to start, Highland Wagyu with Shiitake Mushroom and Jerusalem Artichoke for mains and shared a chocolate dessert to finish. They were all very well designed and the flavours balanced each other beautifully. The staff were knowledgeable and helpful with recommending wines along with the courses as well. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling around quite a lot, seeing various levels of service and food throughout the years but it’s such a pleasure to experience a restaurant where the level of both match each other at the higher end of the spectrum.

I’d love to come back for the Afternoon Tea that they are offering as well one day, as I can imagine it being thoroughly exquisite.

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