Glenturret is a Highland single malt distillery on the Turret River near Crieff, said to have started in 1775 as an illicit still called the Hosh.1,2,3 Thomas Stewart renamed it Glenturret in 1875.1,2,4 It closed in 1923, and James Fairlie revived it in 1959.1,2,3 Lalique Group led its purchase in March 2019.2,5,6
Mediocre review score, 79 out of 100Mediocre79/100
A trio of strange young Glenturrets
Silent, 1923–1959
Producing, 1959–today
Name
Hosh, 1775–1875
Glenturret, 1875–today
1775185019001950Today
From the Hosh to Glenturret
Other sources date it to 1763 and illicit distilling there to 1717, behind a claim to be Scotland's oldest distillery that Littlemill and others contest.1,2,3 John Drummond was granted a licence to distil there in 1818.1,2,7 John McCallum took over as licence holder in 1852.2,3 Thomas Stewart took over in 1875 and named it after a nearby Glenturret distillery that had failed 20 years before.1,2,3 Glenturret Distillery Co took over in 1896, and the distillery passed to Mitchell Bros in 1907.1,2
Sources disagree: when it opened. This page uses 1775.
The 1923 closure was its second, after one during the First World War.1,2,3 It was dismantled in 1929 when Mitchell Brothers Limited was wound up.1,2 Its buildings then stood silent.1
Sources disagree: when it closed. This page uses 1923.
Rémy Cointreau bought the distillery in 1981.2,3 Highland Distillers bought Glenturret in 1990.2,3 In 1999 Edrington and William Grant & Sons bought Highland Distillers, and ownership of Glenturret went to Edrington.2,3,6 In 2002 Edrington built a £2.2m visitors' centre for The Famous Grouse at the distillery.2 After using lightly peated malt from outside maltings, it began making heavily peated spirit on site in 2008, which became a key part of The Famous Grouse Smoky Black.
Next: Later owners and The Famous Grouse, New owners, How it makes its spirit
December 2018 reports named the buyer as Art & Terroir, run by Lalique owner Silvio Denz, while other sources name a joint venture of Lalique Group and Hansjörg Wyss.2,5,6 In 2022 a new mash tun, where milled malt is mixed with hot water, replaced the old one, and waste heat began warming the fermented wash before distilling.3,4,8 Whisky Magazine had called the old tun Scotland's last hand-operated mash tun, stirred with a long wooden rouser with a rake-like head.3,4,8 In November 2024 Glenturret said it would stop using peated malt in its own production in 2025.3,4,5
Sources disagree: when Lalique Group took over. This page uses 2019.
2018-12: ScotchWhisky.com, The Drinks Business7,11
How it makes its spirit
Glenturret takes its water from Loch Turret through its own pipeline.3 It has one wash still and one spirit still.3 Radiators inside the stills heat them.8 The spirit goes through two distillations, starting in the wash still.8 A 1990 history says the sugary wort fermented with yeast for 48 hours in large pine vessels called washbacks.2,3,9 A later report gives fermentation times of up to 100 hours.3,9 Its new spirit is light in style.2,5
