1770 Glasgow review - Blog post by whisky blogger Jan Autzen Laursen

Glasgow Distillers 1770
I clearly remember when Glasgow Distillers launched their first whisky, or rather relaunched their whisky back in 2018. It was interesting and different, and yet nothing that quite knocked you off your feet.

A lot of whisky has run through the stills since, and today I am sitting with six different bottlings, plus a link to an online tasting with Libby Barmby, marketing executive at The Glasgow Distillery.

The story in brief, if you do not know it: The Glasgow Distillery Company was founded in 1770 and made a fair amount of whisky over the years until it sadly had to close in the early 1900s. Two good friends, Liam Hughes and Mark Hayward, set out to bring whisky production back to Glasgow, and in 2012 they reopened The Glasgow Distillery Company. The first product they got through the stills was Makar Original Dry Gin and after that whisky, namely the 1770 range.

Tasting the Glasgow Distillers 1770 range

1770 Triple Distilled 46% ABV
The first one we sling in the glass is their Triple Distilled, made after the Irish recipe where you distil three times to get a cleaner spirit.
The nose is fresh and fruity. It has matured in virgin oak and bourbon casks, so this classic vanilla aroma mixed with fruit is fairly penetrating. There is a small hint of pepper at the end, and that is probably the virgin oak cask bringing it along.
Sweet, lovely, fruity whisky, an everyday dram as Libby calls it. It does not ask much of you to sit and enjoy it. A pleasant little dram that actually gives a fine impression of what whisky can also do, even without an age statement on the label.
Fortunately it has not been watered all the way down to 40%. Had that been the case I think the palate would have been completely flat and quite uninspiring. I rather like that they do not water them right down and try to hold a decent ABV so there is still a bit of bite behind it.
They start on a good note, and here is a whisky you bring to people who have never drunk whisky before.

1770 The Original 46% ABV
Next up is The Original. It sits in the same ABV category as the Triple Distilled. The only thing that sets it apart is that it has not been through the stills three times. What does that mean? Libby describes it as this more oily, creamy texture being more present on the palate here. In short, The Original is the big brother of the Triple Distilled.
The nose is identical to the first, and that probably has a lot to do with the same cask types, namely bourbon and virgin oak. I can certainly sense that more oily expression being described.
Here, though, there is a proper punch on the palate. The 46% gives this kick in the whisky, which is sweet and fruity and followed by a well-spiced, almost peppery flavour that slowly pushes through. It is spicy without being wildly so. Lovely flavour, nicely spiced, and a good classic whisky that reminds me a little of what you find in Glengoyne bottlings among others. Had they put an age statement on it, given it just a little extra time in cask, it would have been interesting to dive into. I am not entirely convinced here. A fine finish and a good dram really, but it faces sharp competition from what is out there in the same price bracket, and with an age statement at that.

1770 Tokaji Finish 52% ABV
I really had to google what on earth Tokaji is. I may have tasted a lot, but here I had to admit I was on away turf.
A Tokaji cask comes from a sweet wine type made in Hungary and Slovakia. In the wine production itself, noble rot is used in growing the grapes. That creates a beneficial fungal growth that the grapes are infected with, and done correctly it gives a sweetness-filled flavour in the grapes.
So this is a special bottling made only for Mac Y. It is the triple distilled whisky finished in a Tokaji cask.
I am somewhat split on the nose here. First I sense a raw, undefined aroma of the kind a Jameson can bring. Deep under the aroma you sense this sweetness they want to bring out, though it has to be said that the 52% first has to get past the part of the nose that separates out the rest of the aroma.
The palate is incredibly full of sweetness. Apricot is described, and I can certainly recognise that. A little spiced and quite complex. The Tokaji cask actually does a good thing for the flavour here.
Lovely complex whisky, and if you want to try it you have to hurry, because there are very few bottles left in the trade.

1770 Ruby Port Cask 55% ABV
Next whisky in the glass is a ruby port.
At the whisky fair in Kolding in 2023 I developed some sort of fondness for whisky matured in port casks. The more I could find and taste the better, and eventually I even started buying bottles finished in port casks. It simply could not get wild enough. Fly high, fall hard: I have to admit afterwards that it went out of fashion for me just as fast as when they tried to replace the CD with the mini disc before the MP3 format, or streaming for that matter, broke through.
I do NOT want whisky that has been anywhere near a port cask. Why, you are probably thinking? For me there is some sort of, and forgive me for saying it, cloying finish that resembles a half-stale box wine that has sat far too long in the heat bubbling away out there. Those tannins pushed forward in the whisky are simply a no go for me. Red wine and port casks are not going anywhere near my whisky.

On the nose in this 1770 bottling I get exactly the same as with all the others. There is something in the aroma that is simply not right. Do not misunderstand me, I love port, so for me the two things have to be kept entirely separate.
The palate is actually okay, plenty of sweetness, I just do not get this kick out of it. Well spiced and a decent ABV. Libby thought there was a good flavour of berries and toffee in the palate, and I do not really disagree, I am just not sold.
If you are into whisky that has rested in port casks, I am sure you will love this bottling. I just have to say it is not my favourite, and I am sorry about that.

1770 Peated 46% ABV
Now we land straight in my territory: peated whisky.
Here I am really curious about what I am going to taste, because the aroma itself is quite particular when we are talking peated whisky. I am a huge Laphroaig fan and their peat is nearly pure medicinal on the nose. This one is nothing like that. I really find myself thinking of Springbank or Kilkerran when I nose this.
Barbecue aroma spiced with fruit notes and a more complex campfire aroma.
This bottling has rested in virgin oak and finally been finished in a PX sherry cask, which explains this barbecue-like aroma on the nose. Libby says they go for this sweet, peaty aroma, and it is actually quite peated. We are talking 50 ppm here, so on a level with Ardbeg.
The palate is nicely balanced and matches the sweetness from the PX cask well against the peated side, a leathery flavour that slowly appears. This is not a chimney whisky of the sort you often hear about from people who do not enjoy whisky. Here is actually a good, lovely peated whisky that with help from the PX gives a well-balanced experience.

1770 Peated Cask Strength 60.7% ABV
We close with a cask strength version of their peated whisky.
In pure production terms it is on exactly the same note as the peated one tasted before. We simply turn the percentage up, from 46% to a full 60.7%. It has to be said that the colour also comes along from this PX cask, and on the nose alone we are broadly in the same territory, though there is more of those notes from a typical sherry bottling with undertones of smoke.
Libby admits she would prefer this one over the peated from before every time, and I completely agree. Here there really is a lovely whisky with notes of dark chocolate, black coffee, brown sugar and finally this slightly peated flavour that rounds the whole thing off, almost like freshly ground coffee roasted over an open fire. I think this is a lovely whisky where a PX cask gives a good, restrained smoky flavour.

Conclusion
So I have tasted my way through the Glasgow Distillers 1770 range, or part of it at least, because there are bottlings out there that did not reach my table. I would really have liked to taste their cognac cask, so perhaps that will be the next one to land in my basket.
Do you get good whisky here? The short answer is really yes, though some of these bottlings land in sharp competition with other, more interesting products on the market.

If you have to pick a Glasgow 1770 bottling here and now, I would go for this Tokaji finish, which I find quite interesting. The Peated Cask Strength would certainly be favourite number two.

A fine brand that could do with starting to put some age on soon. Granted, they are young in the trade, but I am fairly sure that once we reach 2028 there will be some quite interesting bottlings.
Slàinte