Small Batch 2025 Peated Release | 58.7% ABV

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*A feast of roots and spice and all things nice*

Festival Sunshine in Scotland

May is the month for whisky festivals in Scotland. The regional ones, at least. Starting with the Spirit of Speyside Festival, continuing a couple of weeks later with the Campbeltown Malts Festival and finishing with Feis Isle on the Isle of Islay. May is also often the best month for weather here and, at the point of writing, the sun has most certainly had its hat on – and boy does it make a difference.

The Speyside festival has grown beyond all recognition from its earliest incarnations. Almost every distillery has at least a tour organised, some with almost hourly tastings or barrel-top talks and the like. The choice of events is now mind-boggling, but it does allow visitors to pick and choose carefully what to do and where to go. Travelling around this vast, rural area is still an issue – the prevalence of ‘driver drams’ is now a prerequisite feature of every tasting. And rightly so. I dread to think of the state of some drivers in years gone by, desperate to get across the region for their next ‘appointment’.

While Islay’s Fèis Ìle takes a little planning to get around too, there’s no such trouble in Campbeltown; all three working distilleries can be walked to in about ten minutes. This close proximity comes with its own limitations. Firstly, many of the tastings sell out within seconds of going live and good luck getting accommodation, especially if you can’t commit to the festival as soon as the dates are announced (frankly, many attendees block book a year in advance).

The town is not best equipped for a horde of travellers all at the same time - it does manage, but only just. What Campbeltown lacks in Hotels, B&Bs, campsites and other holiday amenities, it makes up for simply by allowing a greater feeling of whisky community. You are pretty much forced to interact with the other dram-seekers during the festivities. This, in my opinion, is to be encouraged. I’ll go further – this is what makes the festival special.

Speyside struggles to achieve this. Being so spread out, there is little sense of numbers, kinship or a feeling of coming together. I have no idea how to fix this – it is what it is in such a large, spread-out region. And, frankly, it is still a good week of festivities and activities (although maybe a few too many activities).

Also, a quick note about those distilleries opening their doors and charging £70+ for a tour – just stop. If you’re going to fleece the consumer, simply don’t bother opening your doors. Either your warehouse is suitable for visitors and should reward them, or it isn’t. Don’t make up nonsense about insurance or staff – no one is listening.

Back to Campbeltown, where no such liberties are taken. I hope that the festival vibe on display is not a generational thing. Whilst I realise not everyone will want to spend several days in a row supping great whisky, the whisky family is such an incredible coming together, it would be a shame if the drink fails to attract the next batch of drinkers.

Speyside is unable to offer individual distilleries ‘their day’ in the same way that Campbeltown and Islay can (and even Islay now is having to double-down for some distilleries). This further prevents the whisky tourists from coming together en masse and meeting and greeting each other. That is a shame, but then, which distillery could or would set this up? Glenfiddich and Macallan have both distanced themselves from the festival – their ‘premiumisation’ creating a belief that they are somehow above it all. Benromach is simply too far (let’s be honest, it’s not even a Speyside whisky, is it?). Glenallachie is well situated and run by a small team – that could work – but would still require everyone to be bussed in and out. Who knows – and likely, without vision, motivation and collaboration, it will never happen.

Time will tell for the future of these festivals, but whilst they continue as they are, I will certainly revel in the great pool of incredible people that are my peers, friends, colleagues, supporters, providers and sharers (and at times, carers). What a great bunch of people we whisky drinkers are. Individually, and collectively.

Review 1/2 - Fletcher

Glasgow 1770, Small Batch 2025, Pineau Des Charentes Peated, 303 bottles only, 5 years old, 58.7% ABV
£59 RRP - this bottle provided by Glasgow and sent via Wally

Unfortunately, there is no ‘Lowland -themed’ whisky festival, not yet, but it would be difficult to see where it might squeeze in on the calendar. However, even with a couple of dozen distilleries already known and others rumoured to be en-route - when once there was only two - it might be argued that at this point in time, there’s maybe not an appetite for it. That hasn’t stopped Glasgow Distillery managing to get itself noticed by more and more drinkers and revellers.

They are not only the main sponsor of the annual Glasgow Whisky Festival in November, but they also have known faces at most of the regional festivals throughout the year. With very fair pricing, a strong core range and twice yearly or so small batch releases, they have much to share. Most recently, they released a trio of wine cask themed expressions as part of their Small Batch May releases, Dramface were offered one of each to try and Wally distributed them out to those on the team who were willing, as always. I received this Pineau Des Charentes.

However, I’m staring at this bottle with more than a little trepidation. As intimated, I absolutely love what Glasgow Distillery is doing. Their move to 70cl coincided with release after release of stunning whisky, mostly defying their youth and almost all delivering impressive, bombastic flavour bombs.

In fact, Bombastic is quite a good word to describe the current direction of the company. The team behind the releases (many of which can be spotted at those whisky festivals near you) are so unapologetically unafraid to release bold and brash whiskies that the term bombastic lends itself quite well to their ethos.

‘So, why the trepidation?’ You ask. Well, having Googled what Pineau Des Charentes is, I’m concerned about overriding ‘wine’ (I want to write ‘winey-ness’ but that just doesn’t read right - vinous?) characteristics. Should I be concerned, though? It is just a fortified wine after all - a French Sherry perhaps – and I have little concern with ex-Sherry matured whiskies. My concern is that I suffer with a very pronounced aversion to sulphury, eggy, gunpowder, struck match (call it what you will) styles of whisky. My fear is that this will fall into that category, as a couple of the Glasgow releases have in the past. Let’s see what we get…

Nose

The colour is a glorious auburn. A deep and darkening African sunset (I have witnessed such a thing). Just swilling the glass at arm’s length I can begin to smell the sweet smoke and that, with the colour, draws me in (yes, I know, the colour shouldn’t - but it’s natural so… ). I’m immediately hit with the aromas of a bakery specialising in those crusty, sweet pastries, along with the ash of the wood fire. Little to no nose-prickle despite the high ABV.

With some air: toasted marshmallows, hints of toffee, caramel, vanilla, custard, banoffee pie – all with that background of sweet ash and bonfire notes. Around the edges, a grape note comes through that is clearly the cask, or previous contents, contributing to the mix. This grape note is so soft and occasional, just what I was hoping for, but not necessarily expecting. With more air, those wine notes become stronger but with a cola-essence (in fact, for those who have heard of such a drink - Dandelion and Burdock).

Palate

The palate is full of Dandelion and Burdock flavours, and this has taken me right back to my childhood. Finally, the ABV lets loose, and the mouth is slightly dried out. I can’t help but instantly love this whisky. It is sweet, it is full-flavoured, and the cask finishing has in no way overtaken the spirit. All of my premonitions have been proven wrong – there is not a burnt match to be seen, not even a lit candle. The smokiness of this whisky, on the palate, has added a depth of flavour (more bonfire notes) and length to the finish. Some of the complexities of the nose are AWOL, so a drop of water is required. The water just enhances those Dandelion and Burdock flavours – I’m trying to think of an equivalent for those who have never had it. Perhaps a hint of Sarsaparilla with some bitter orange? Perhaps not.

The Dregs

This whisky will not suit everyone’s palate quite as much as it does mine. The label states ‘green peppercorn’, and it certainly offers this up with a slight bitterness after the second or third dram. I didn’t find any toffee apple but did get the toffee (and remember folks, there is no right or wrong when it comes to tasting notes – no one has a God-given talent for sniffing out flavours). But the slight heat or bitterness in the finish aside, I love this whisky. I love its brazenness and how it sends me down a memory lane.

I love the fact that the team at Glasgow Distillery had the chutzpah to use these casks and leave them for over a year – and to bottle it at just five years old. Going back to the glass now, I’m getting mesquite and the maple-smoked ham that is also mentioned on the label. It isn’t Glasgow’s most bombastic bottling and not quite as good as their peated cask strength (which is a 9/10 in my book), but it is certainly worth trying should you get the chance. Bravo, Glasgow. Bravo.

“She call me Mr Bombastic, Say me fantastic, touch me on the back…”

[I cannot begin to express how much I detested Shaggy’s music. Still do, actually.]

Score: 8/10 FF

Review 2/2 - Hughie

Glasgow 1770, Small Batch 2025, Pineau Des Charentes Peated, 303 bottles only, 5 years old, 58.7% ABV
€80 paid (£67) - this bottle purchased locally in Italy

In the past year, the one distillery which has given me the most FOMO has been Glasgow.

My fellow writers here on Dramface certainly helped stoke those flames with their reviews, starting from that much-praised Manzanilla release, but so did the word of mouth in the broader digital whisky-sphere. Getting any of those small batch releases across the channel (and I suspect across the pond, too) has been almost impossible.

Glasgow Distillery’s initial 500ml bottle misstep was quickly remedied on the home market, but for quite some time, it seemed European retailers, still stuck with some of those initial bottlings, were not willing to take the risk and invest in the newer stock. Luckily, whisky finds you, and so through friendly mules and two trips to Scotland, I managed to finally try a few of Glasgow’s bottlings and confirm that I shared the excitement.

Then, finally, some retailers on this side of the channel started waking up. At first, just a few bottles - disappearing from the shelves quicker than a bottle of Springbank 10. And now, progressively more. Which is how I managed to grab this bottle long after it was sold out in the UK. I had a choice of all three of the most recent releases, the Greek Syrah cask, the Constantia wine cask and this Pineau des Charentes. I seriously considered the Constantia. I have a soft spot for sweet wines, and Constantia (allegedly one of Napoleon’s favourite wines) is up there among my favourites. But I couldn’t resist the Pineau, a veritable oddball of a “wine”.

I used quotation marks because calling Pineau des Charentes as a wine is a bit of a stretch. It is technically a Vin de Liqueur, made by adding eau de vie, in this case at least a year-old Cognac, to grape must that is just about, or has just started, to ferment. As Jancis Robinson states in the Oxford Companion to Wine, it “is effectively a mixture of grape juice and brandy”. Definitely not your average wine cask.

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Another Glasgow treat, but a potential red flag rollercoaster for purists*

Nose

This is a beautifully odd one. I need to grab my bearings at first, and my immediate reaction is that it is smoky, medicinal and herbal. Fletcher mentioned Dandelion and Burdock, but I have to admit that even after living over a decade in the UK, my knowledge of British domestic soft drinks is limited to Ribena and Irn-Bru. Instead, it reminds me of herbal cough syrup (a very specific one based on ivy leaves extract I used to give my son years ago, just to keep to obscure references).

As it breathes in the glass, it gets sweeter and more cask-driven notes emerge. First blackcurrant leaves, vanilla, and red grapes; then a bit of green spice (maybe the green peppercorns in the official tasting notes) and some orange liqueur flavoured marzipan. There is some BBQ meat, reminding me of Memphis-style ribs, and then a bold, persistent note of toffee and good cigar tobacco: not sure if Cuban cigar-infused toffee exists, but if it did, I bet it would smell like this.

Adding water mellows the nose out, allowing the “native” spirit character more space, with more prominent bonfire smoke, white fruit, vanilla and pastry; like a vanilla custard and apple danish. The Pineau cask influence is more in the background with notes of grape juice, freshly cut grass, a hint of bitter almonds and more of that tobacco and toffee base note.

Palate

The first thing that impresses me is the mouthfeel. Rich, warm but not hot, and youthful but not young. Glasgow Distillery can take a relatively young spirit and make you forget both the ABV and the age of the liquid. The taste is more straightforward than the nose, but just as enjoyable. Smoky wet bonfire (one that an inexperienced camper would set up), toffee, white fruit - mostly apple, cola, some residual dried herbs notes, with some light bitterness, and some nuttiness; unripe green walnuts. The medium long finish lingers on woodsmoke, fruity sweet notes - wood ash, grapes, toffee, apples and just a hint of ginger spice.

Adding water unsurprisingly weakens the mouthfeel and, like on the nose, allows more of the natural peat of the distillate to emerge, accompanied by fruity sweet notes and a more noticeable spice (cloves, ginger and nutmeg) and a slightly tannic mouthfeel.

The Dregs

Knowing how Pineau is made, I was expecting a big fruit-bomb mingling with Glasgow’s peated spirit, but at first, this is anything but. The mix of the peaty spirit and Pineau character creates something unique, almost medicinal. And yet, once the initial puzzlement is gone, both the spirit identity and the cask influence are there, identifiable and mingling together. The cask influence, for once, is almost a bit too much. Not enough to detract from the enjoyment of the whisky, but not coming completely together: it is a bit of a rollercoaster, and sometimes it’s fun to have a whisky that gives you thrills.

Fletcher argued that this will be a divisive dram, and I very much agree. It’s almost as if Glasgow Distillery, after giving whisky purists their fix with the anniversary 10 year old release, turned around and went and ran in the exact opposite direction, blowing a cheeky kiss at all the cask-finish deniers. I, for one, am in the camp of those who are enjoying the wild ride. Just maybe not as much as Fletch on this one.

Score: 6/10 HC

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. FF

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