Glenturret 1980-1996 - 16 Year Old - Murray McDavid - Single Cask 9194

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.

Independent whisky bottler Murray McDavid was founded by La Réserve wine merchants Simon Coughlin and Mark Reynier with Gordon Wright from Springbank in 1994. Murray McDavid quickly established themselves in the new wave of indie bottlers, with a string of great whiskies bottled without colouring or chill filtration at a minimum strength of 46%.

After a failed bid for Ardbeg in 1997, Murray McDavid bought Bruichladdich distillery in 2000 and swiftly transformed the rundown distillery’s fortunes, employing Jim McEwan as manager and embracing the wine finishing trend with gusto. In 2012 Murray McDavid & Bruichladdich were bought by Rémy Cointreau, who sold Murray McDavid to Aceo Ltd, another whisky broker and bottling company, the following year.