On this tweet tasting – the 200th, everyone was up for a party, celebrating Steve Rush achieving this milestone over 10 years of great Tweet Tastings. He contributes a great deal to the whole whisky community with tastings, interviews and prizes as the foremost figure in the social media whisky community. Chapeau! My friend. You deserve all the recognition you get. Glasgow distillery provided the samples and mixers. Let the party begin.
I was excited to be invited to sample the varied products from the relatively new but medal winning Glasgow distillery. Glasgow is rapidly becoming synonymous with quality craft distilling. I would describe their output and the distillery as contemporary showcasing distilling quality.
I have tasted their whisky and gin before but not the vodka or spiced rum so I opened my mind to tasting white spirits neat.
Kicking off with the Makar gin, my wife , the family gin expert’s favourite!
Makar The Original Glasgow WeeGin 43% ABV
image courtesy of Glasgow Distillery
This Gin is 7 times distilled through ‘Annie’. ‘Annie’ is a copper pot still so be prepared for a quality spirit.
image courtesy of Glasgow Distillery
Wow. So much flavour neat.
Makar Nose: Juniper, lemon peel, bitter lemon, basil, spices, slightly darker notes of liquorice
Makar Palate: There are so many flavours when tasted neat. I get limes, Liquorice all-sorts, the ones that have layers of liquorice with the white or coloured coconut sugar layers, lemonade, a woody cedar note, and finally notes of cigar.
I loved that and must drink more Gin but take the time to really savour the craft.
Finally, as recommended (and what you add to Gin is important), I added FeverTree tonic and mild green chilli pepper. Not so mild in this case.
It gives that classic Gin and Tonic explosion of Juniper and botanicals including strengthening rosemary and coriander. The tonic enhances every aroma and flavour.
Summer is approaching fast.
G52 Botanical Vodka 40% Fresh Citrus
image courtesy of Glasgow Distillery
I did spend time in Russia on business in the late 90’s so neat vodka is not a surprise to me. This vodka was a surprise! There was such complexity of flavour.
G52 Nose: A waft of schweppes bitter lemon. I love bitter lemon flavours in spirits. Sweet Thai spices, grapefruit, orange spangles. Great nose with the orange and citrus flavours twisting around each other delivering an exquisite effect. That Thai spicing is great.
G52 Palate: Starts with a malty biscuit note, grapefruit, durian, quite oriental again old fashioned boiling hint as well maybe anise. There is some warmth from ginger and tropical notes of pineapple on the finish.
This is a vodka I will buy…. hugely recommended. I will drink it neat with ice. We added tonic and a slice of pink grapefruit. It made a great long drink. The flavours were enhanced and amplified. I never thought I would drink vodka but this craft spirit with its botanical flavours will make a great G&T substitute. It had strong Stolichnaya notes but so much more interesting flavours.
Banditti Club Rum 44% ABV
image courtesy of Glasgow Distillery
A spiced rum. But I dont like spiced rum? This was great!
Banditti Nose: Ginger snaps dipped in tea, brown sugar, cinnamon this bodes well for the palate!
Banditti Palate: Big warm cinnamon notes, The sour hint of angostura bitters, brandy snaps, orange peel, pepper, cloves, chilli, anise. All the winter tastes of a mulled wine but in a spirit. Tangy and warming in the mouth.
Now we added FeverTree Ginger Beer and a wedge of lime.
Another great party drink. It is my wife’s birthday next week and we will celebrate in our bubble with a pitcher of this. I bought a bottle immediately.
Now I am entering more familiar and eagerly anticipated territory.
Glasgow 1770 Single Malt Peated 46%
image courtesy of Glasgow Distillery
1770 Peated Nose: Floral sweet peat (to me it’s the St. Fergus variety from the north-east of Scotland) honeyed and smoky. The nose reveals spring flowers mandarins, ginger, smoke, a savoury note like a meat marinade,
1770 Peated palate: ginger, pepper, cinnamon, gravy, Turkish delight, that savoury meat hint, gamon maple syrup basted. A lovely rich smoky whisky.
The peat is there but never overwhelming the fruity savoury flavour. A balanced complex whisky with layers of aroma and flavour. Again a recommendation.
I really enjoyed this tasting. It challenged my palate which is the joy of properly tasting different premium spirits. No corners were cut by Glasgow in delivering these quality drinks. We sometimes take ourselves too seriously in the drink review world. These are truly great enjoyable drinks to celebrate with friends and family.
