Ruadh Mhor (Glenturret) 11yo
North Start Spirits Peated Glenturret | 62.8% ABV
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
A perfect autumnal dram
Oh Sweet Autumn
It’s late September and we’re headed for October at Casa Earie. In the northern hemisphere that means that we’re indulging ourselves in a bit of an Indian summer.
Indeed, a quick look at our weather forecast and things look promising for this week, with temperatures cruising towards 25°C and beyond (that’s some 77-80°F for our American friends). Nae bad fur the time o’ yier – if you’ll pardon me this linguistic appropriation.
Well aware of the fact that soon the idea of walking around in little more than shorts and a t-shirt will become a faint memory of yet another summer gone by. Personally, however, I am quite fond of Autumn. Or at least I like to think I am, as I tend to overromanticize it a fair bit. Even when the brutal truth is horizontal rain attacking from all directions aided by winds that have no right to be as strong as they are, there’s all the other stuff that makes up for it.
To me, autumn really is an absolute feast for the senses. There’s the visual display coming from the trees as the foliage changes colour, but also from the low-hanging sun casting weird light and long shadows in the late afternoon. There’s that peculiar, yet rewarding, sensation of coming back inside the house after facing the elements, miserable and drookit, and slowly but surely warming and drying up again.
But mostly, and most importantly, it’s a feast of smell and taste. Autumn is full of it: the humid air, the smell of wet wood and plants and slowly decaying leaves scattered all over when walking through a park or forest, not to mention the smell and sound of an open fire. Combine that with some of the most delicious food and dishes known to mankind: fungi and other mushroom varieties!
Venison (apologies to my vegetarian friends, but very few things beat a good stew made from boar or deer)! Soups so dense you can literally stand your spoon in them! Walnuts and other nuts to be enjoyed on their own, or used in cakes and pies or to accompany a set of robust umami cheeses!
So yes, I am partial to Autumn, and I will admit that I’m prone to overromanticizing things. And when the harsh, cold and wet reality hits - hard - to remind me not to get too carried away, I’ll add that Autumn is absolutely, definitely also my whisky season.
As much as I love a light, summery whisky, where I can enjoy an orchard in my glass, it’s autumn, when whisky transcends from being a drink of choice to becoming something that taps into all of my senses: smell and taste – obviously, but sight, sound and touch too.
The sight of a hefty dram warming my heart, the pop of a cork or the ‘glug’ of pouring whisky into a glass fills me with the joy of anticipation, and of course the smell of something robust and firm announcing a flavour bomb soon to touch my lips. I absolutely love every single little thing about it.
Maybe it’s down to the fact that, more than twenty five years ago, my first ever sip of Laphroaig 10 after a satisfying Christmas dinner, changed everything. That still resonates to this day. Maybe I am just that: a romantic idiot when it comes to this particular season.
By and large I lean towards being a ‘rational’ - sometimes borderline cynical - type of person and I just need something to balance things out and I project it all on those four to five glorious weeks between late September and early November. Nostalgia goes a long way… I’m sure my therapist, should I ever have one, would have a few things to say about it.
Unless they know whisky.
Review
Ruadh Mhor 11yo, (2013 - 2025), Peated Glenturret, North Star Cask series 025, Matured in a Pedro Ximenez Hogshead, 62.8% ABV
£98 RRP, gifted, still some availability
Glenturret is not exactly a brand that sits top of mind where whisky is concerned, I’ll admit. Under Edrington ownership its ‘claim to fame’ came down to (or rather: was brought down to by its owners) it being “the home” to The Famous Grouse Experience. A brand so famous it attracted thousands upon thousands of visitors each year. Not all of them whisky enthusiasts per se, but ‘famous’ for being recognizable and for being around since forever – just like the distillery claiming a pedigree dating back to the mid 1700’s.
Also the fact that it’s located quite conveniently close to Stirling and Perth, and a mere hour away from Glasgow up the A9, will have helped to attract those visitors taking the scenic route.
As a brand in its own right, it didn’t really stand out: 40% ABV, coloured and chill filtered and from the one bottle from that Edrington era I once had, I don’t remember much about it, which probably means it was by no means bad, but didn’t really leave much of an impression either.
Things changed, significantly, around 2019-2020 when the distillery was sold to the Lalique Group (a luxury glass manufacturer also known for collaborating with Edrington’s crown jewel Macallan). The dumpy, average looking bottles were dropped to make way for a complete new look: classy, tall, decanter-style bottles, with sober, yet elegant blue and white labeling.
But it wasn’t all form. The entire distillery and the entire brand got a makeover. The core range was completely rebranded with new expressions, natural colour, no chill filtration and higher ABV. As for the distillery itself, the dusty feathers and plumes of the Grouse were waved goodbye to, while Edrington eventually sold the brand to William Grant & Sons in 2025. The grouse statue was banished alongside the once famous, manually-operated open mash tun (said to be the last of its kind in Scotland) which was replaced in 2022 by a semi-lauter set up.
At the time of the rebrand, people did take notice. After all, it wasn’t that common for a brand providing to a world renowned blend suddenly changing course to cater more to a ‘clientele’ of invested enthusiasts. And it needs to be said: the rebrand worked, not in the least because of the fact that the quality of their whisky was ‘up there’, proving once again there’s no such thing as poor whisky, only whisky that’s being treated poorly.
And yet. From a personal perspective, I will admit that I too was enamored by the new direction Glenturret was heading in, initially at least. I got myself a bottle of the 12 year old – which was excellent, and a bottle of their peated 10 yo – which was rather good. Since then, and I’m talking five to even six years ago now, I haven’t bought another. Not because their whisky wasn’t good, far from it, but truth be told, I haven’t even considered going back to explore more.
Probably because it’s quite expensive stuff, and consequently, despite the successful change in style and form, I tend to overlook it altogether. £65 for a 12 year old isn’t shockingly expensive these days, but it still feels as if they should shave a tenner off that price. And that’s not even considering the quite hefty price tags on their more limited releases (£90 and up for the 15yo for example). It’s clear they are targeting a customer base who are happy to shop in a more premium segment of the market. And that’s absolutely fine. But they do send a message and it says that a lot of their releases aren’t necessarily for me which, I regret to say, also makes them more or less ‘invisible’ when they do show up with something I might consider buying.
Yes, they ‘only’ produce some 400,000 – 500,000 LPA, but so do Ardnamurchan, Glengyle and Benromach. All distilleries which are firmly on my radar and whose releases appear very regularly in my cabinet.
So it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that the price tag for this 11yo independent version of peated Glenturret comes dangerously close to a three digit price tag as well. Luckily I was gifted this for my birthday a few weeks ago by my friend Glenn - a bottle which, on paper, ticks everything I’m looking for in an autumn whisky: firm bodied (62.8% ABV!!!), strongly peated, and laid to rest for over 11 years in a Pedro Ximenez Hogshead. Bring it on, elements!
Score: 8/10
Something special.
TL;DR
A perfect autumnal dram
Nose
Warm, earthy smoke and peat. Dried fruit: oranges and forest fruit with dark, almost bitter honey. Spices – clove, nutmeg, a whiff of ginger even. Coffee and treacle. Throughout it all there’s an absolutely delightful yet suppressed ‘dirty’ note: oily, workshop, greasy cloth. Delightful!
Palate
Despite the hefty ABV it is not as feisty as you might expect. Make no mistake: that near 63% alcohol is there and noticeably so, but it doesn’t bite or sting. Again, there’s warming smoke and earthy peat. Treacle and caramel on a dense, somewhat dry mouthfeel. Add a bit of water and it cranks up the heath, but add some more and you get those dirty – oily workshop notes in full swing, leaving me with a long, warming, peppery -smoky, but above all satisfying finish.
The Dregs
An absolute winner in my book. That dirty element combined with the warming character of this whisky really lifts it. Bourbon cask matured stuff is sort of my lane when it comes to whisky, but the combo of peated whisky matured in sherry casks can easily make me stray from that path. This being one of those occasions where such a whisky puts a big, stupid grin on my face.
Personally I would have loved it if that workshop – oily – cloth note (which North Star refer to as Diesel notes on the label - and they’re not wrong) would have been even more prominent. Since I’m roughly a third into this bottle I have good hopes it might still evolve further.
Glenturret, be it official or indie, will likely never be the cheapest option, but we ‘re not looking for cheap, we’re looking for good. At fair prices. This North Star is an example of a very good whisky, at a price that might just be considered borderline expensive. If I were to translate this into a score, I’m currently on the fence between a 7 and an 8. So for now, I’m banking on that autumnal character building, I sense it can progress even further and will take me to seasonal whisky heaven with each new glass.
Score: 8/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA
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