Bottled for Royal Mile Whiskies | 53% ABV

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Your favourite dessert on steroids, only whisky*

When looks can thrill.

Design is something we mostly take for granted. It’s all around us.

Every structure, product, piece of communication, packaging, clothing, the interfaces on your screen – everything – has (generally) been the focus of hours of painstaking attention, talent and expertise.

And it makes a huge difference. Not just to how something functions, but also in how long and how well it’s able to do its job, how much it costs, how it looks and – in many cases – how much we want it.

Good – or bad – design can make or break a product. And it frequently does.

To put all this into context, I have absolutely no talent for design of any kind and would probably make a dog’s breakfast of designing a blank sheet of paper.

So, as a complete layman on the subject, I naturally approach it with the eye of an end user – aka, a consumer. And my own simple measure of good and bad design is partly how well a thing seems to do the job I want it to, but also whether it pleases me aesthetically: Does it move me?

And if an object makes me want to reach out and touch it, then that – to me – is a good piece of design.

Whether it’s a piece of technology, clothing or packaging, the “touch test” tends to be a pretty good barometer of success in my world. We’re exhorted to never judge books by their covers. But it’s the most human of things to do. And we do it constantly.

We form opinions about objects, people, places and everything else on the basis of our first exposure as a matter of course. I’m sure it’s deeply entrenched in our survival instincts and there’s no doubt a direct connection back to the times when we had to instantly assess whether or not a newly encountered creature, human or food presented a threat or not.

In our largely threat-free lives (at least free of man-eating sabre-toothed tigers), our modern equivalent is less about identifying danger and more about responding to preferences.

And so it is with the bottles that wrap themselves around our beloved whisky.

Spend a while pondering the contents of any well-stocked whisky shelf (your own or in a shop), and it’s quite remarkable just how much variation can be applied to building a vessel to hold 70cl (or 75cl) of your favorite liquid.

While the basics are always essentially the same – we pour the liquid out of a hole at the top, the bottles are all taller than they are wide, they stand on a flat bottom and they fit in one hand and are (mostly) tubular - there still manages to be considerable variance in the name of communicating a style and standing out on the shelf.

Of course it’s not always the bottle itself that provides the point of difference. Many distilleries use identical bottle stock – partly for reasons of cost and also for ease of stocking, shipping, storage etc. In those cases, maybe we’re looking at the colour of the glass, but most of the heavy lifting in terms of design is done on the labeling. Graphic design to the rescue.

Increasingly though, I think we’re seeing design come to the fore in what can be done with the bottle itself. And a lot of this is coming from the younger distilleries – perhaps because they are smaller, leaner and more entrepreneurial than many of the major brands that are mostly owned by large conglomerates and who deal with a whole bunch of different factors in production and marketing.

Distilleries like Ardnamurchan (with their sexy little slate-grey single cask numbers, with the enticing slit in the side that lets us get a glimpse of the liquid inside), Glasgow, Raasay, Lochlea, Nc’Nean, Harris and others have all come to market with inventive and highly designed bottles that grab the eye and (if you’re like me) make you want to reach out and pick it up. Job done.

Many of us in the enthusiast community routinely rail against what we perceive to be the sins of the marketing departments of many whisky brands. But let’s not forget that packaging design is marketing through and through. And when it’s done well, it deserves to be celebrated.

There’s plenty of pedestrian and uninspired design in the whisky business, and there is and has been plenty of crap too. But the designs that excel and convey a sense of individuality and differentiation for the brand are the result of an almost alchemical combination of creative talent, technical skill and the courage to be different (which generally incurs more cost).

So when a bottle catches your eye, makes you lean in and reach out to touch it – think of the folks who pulled off that particular marketing triumph and hope the liquid in the bottle lives up to the promise of the packaging.

Because while great design can achieve a lot, it can’t make what’s in the bottle taste any better. Or any worse for that matter. But it can help increase the chance that you’ll try a bottle.

All of which is to say, that the whisky reviewed below, is one that – in my opinion at least – benefits from design that delivers. It looks great, it feels great and it presents the liquid inside in a decidedly seductive way.

So much so that I haven’t been able to throw out the empty bottle that was my first, and the pictures below are of the second bottle I’ve managed to get my hands on.

Which I guess is the clue for what I think about the whisky within.

Review 1/2 - Nick

Glasgow 1770 10yo, refill Sauternes barrique full maturation, for Royal Mile Whiskies, 2025 release, 340 bottles only, 53% ABV
£74 paid, now sold out

With its tall and slender profile, the vertical ridges all around the bottle and its classy, dramatic black and copper-gold labeling this is indeed a whisky that is good on the eyes. And that’s before you even look at the golden-amber liquid calling to you from within.

I wish I was this good-looking.

If I have one criticism it would be that it’s leaning into Octomore territory. It’s fractionally too tall for most shelves. But Octomore still tops the league in that respect (a whisky that also joins the list for stand-out bottle design). For this, however, it can be forgiven.

As for the quality of what’s inside, perhaps the best and most objective evidence I can lean on comes from a party I attended at a friend’s apartment here in NYC shortly before Christmas.

As my contribution to the festivities, I took with me four bottles of whisky that I felt warranted the outing. Whiskies that I liked and that would represent a quality line up that would appeal to a range of palates. And there were prestigious bottlings and some chaseable whiskies among them.

All were appreciated, but only one was totally rinsed before the night was out. And you guessed it. This Glasgow was the one that everyone kept coming back to.

It was a mixed crowd of folks, from complete newbies to experienced whisky travelers. And the Glasgow was universally declared the best of the lot. Not bad for a fledgling distillery that has barely established a distribution foothold in the States. Not scientific, but pretty solid.

And as it’s a good indication that the folks at Royal Mile Whiskies made a good choice when they picked this cask to bottle as an exclusive release in celebration of 10 years of distilling at Glasgow Distillery.

The downside for me was that my only bottle was unexpectedly emptied. But fortunately a friend offered to sell me the remainder of his bottle so I was back in business and thus the following:

Nose

Utterly gorgeous. I’ve fallen into a tropical fruit salad that’s sitting next to a bowl of white pepper in a pastry kitchen, while chefs all around me are turning out a dizzying array of indulgent desserts.

There’s peach melba, pears soaked in brandy, crêpes suzette, rum baba, cinnamon buns fresh out of the oven and crème brûlée with the lovely burnt sugar aroma hanging over it.

And one of the chefs is enjoying something alcoholic in the corner. Something fortified. Makes sense.

Adding a little water takes the initial pepper note down and adds some faintly savoury notes behind the fruit. And dark brown sugar comes through.

Palate

Succulent. It coats the mouth and lingers. Straight after pouring, this drinks a little hot – even well down the bottle. The peppery note dominates but the underlying fruit is still unmistakably present. Just a little bit masked.

Give it time in the glass and it settles down and reveals much more. The pepper recedes with air and time, allowing the fruit and other notes to assert themselves. And time is something I’m very happy to spend with this dram.

The tropical fruit is still there, but now it’s a little more cooked. Maybe not fully stewed, but certainly warmed. And there’s a touch of marmalade, with a hint of ginger, and some nuttiness. Cashew perhaps. And the smell of marzipan wafting in from another room. Very faint.

Adding a few drops of water really takes this to its sweet spot for me. Everything comes together even more and it’s a beautifully integrated dram. With enough heat and feistiness to keep things interesting; the succulent fruity sweetness become positively seductive.

The finish is subtle, but long. For some reason this makes me want to have it with me on a long sandy beach in the Caribbean. Yes please.

The Dregs

Well it definitely tastes as good as it looks.

There are many different flavour profiles that I like in a Scotch and the influence of Sauternes casks seems to be emerging as another. I haven’t had many to date, but the Sauternes Cask release from Ardnamurchan hit home and the peated Sauternes cask 2025 ArdnAmerica Tour bottling was a revelation. And other dessert wines have been notable too.

But regardless of the cask, this is a well-composed and balanced whisky that rewards time spent and leaves you wanting more. As my first encounter with Glasgow and its offerings, this is extremely promising. Another reason to be excited about the crop of newer distilleries on the scene.

The risk of course, is that a handful of experiences this good and I’ll be off down another rabbit hole like the one Ardnamurchan has sent me down. All of which is extremely satisfying, but financially demanding. I’m not sure I can handle too many of those. And my self-discipline (and lack thereof) tends not to be on my side in such matters.

Regardless, if you can get your hands on one of these in the secondary market, or if you can make friends with someone that’s got an open bottle, I’m pretty confident you won’t be disappointed.

And as it says on the back of the bottle “Always Non-Chill Filtered & Natural in Colour”.

Happy hunting!

Score: 7/10 NF

Review 2/2 - Hamish

Glasgow 1770 10yo, refill Sauternes barrique full maturation, for Royal Mile Whiskies, 2025 release, 340 bottles only, 53% ABV
£74 paid, now sold out

I think I picked this one up as soon as it was released - having loved the Inaugural 10 year old release from Glasgow. I’m not normally a fan of Sauternes finishing or maturation if I'm honest, but other cask variants from the distillery have been extremely enjoyable and I thought I'd take a punt. I placed trust in the selection by Royal Mile Whiskies too. Having purchased a few other exclusive RMW bottles (official release & independent bottlings alike), it made for an added excitement here to pop this one open as soon as it landed.

Score: 7/10

**Very good indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Clean and fresh with an abundance of fruit*

Nose

Immediate note of plums and white grapes. It’s fresh, very fruit forward and bright on the nose. Certainly packs a punch after a few back-to-back sniffs. There’s an element of lavender in here that mixes well with lemon zest and whole cloves. It’s quite thick. Vanilla sponge, a sweet wine element (that I’m assuming is the Sauternes) alongside dried apricots, a butterscotch sauce and roasted pecans.

Palate

Power from the nose comes in spades here on the first sip; so clean and fresh on the palate - it’s dense too and holds a lot of weight. Slightly savoury, which I wasn’t expecting, but pleasantly surprised about. A little meaty. There are oat biscuits here, banana bread and a heap of nutmeg. Key lime pie comes to mind as well. Maybe a lick of salt too.

It develops into a nice chocolate note and the saltiness transforms into salted caramel. Baked pastries. Mineralic. Some roasted walnuts and peach tart on the go. A medium to long finish for me that brings more and more fruit to the flavour spectrum. Mixing that lime element with stone fruit and sliced apples really makes a delicious pour.

The Dregs

Personally, this is pleasantly surprising given the Sauternes maturation and my lacklustre experience with it in the past. It marries very well with Glasgow distillate - liquid that continues to stop me in my tracks and pour praise on. A delicious expression from the 1770 brand and one that I’m glad to have purchased.

You have a lovely mixture of fruit, grip, weight, and oiliness. It plays to its strength; the distillate does well here and neither the liquid nor the cask overwhelms the other. A belter and one I'd recommend, especially if you’re a fan of what Glasgow have released to date.

Score: 7/10 HF

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

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