Glenturret 1975-1995 - 20 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 745

Glenturret claims to have started life in 1775 as an illicit Highland distillery called Hosh, which was renamed Glenturret a century later before being dismantled in the 1920s. The current Glenturret distillery was reborn on the Hosh site in the 1950s and was taken over by Highland Distillers (later Edrington) in 1990. Edrington made Glenturret the home of their Famous Grouse blend in 2002 before selling the distillery in 2019 to the crystal manufacturers Lalique.

Glenturret is a small distillery with a capacity well under half a million litres a year, the vast majority of which used to be destined for Famous Grouse. The distillery makes a small quantity of sought-after peated whisky named Ruadh Maor. Glenturret’s core range has been completely refreshed under the new owners, while at auction older long-aged official bottlings are often good value and well worth seeking out.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.