June 2023 was a milestone month for The Luxurious Editor celebrating the publication’s tenth anniversary. So, to mark the event, co-founders, Ross and Chrystal loved a sunny day at The Glenturret Distillery adopted by lunch on the Michelin-starred The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant.
Provenance, prowess, and keenness are the values that underpin The Glenturret, key qualities additionally intently valued at The Luxurious Editor, so it appeared like a becoming place to have a good time our first decennial in enterprise.
Introduction
Nestled deep within the lovely Perthshire countryside is The Glenturret Distillery – Scotland’s oldest working distillery. Initially thought to have been established in 1775, a Swiss historian found that the distillery dates to 1763 and 260 years on and the model continues to have a good time its wealthy heritage.
With over 1 / 4 of a century of tales to inform, this Scottish whisky has withstood the take a look at of time; totally different homeowners, totally different names, native to international ambitions however one factor has remained constant, the precedence is all the time ‘to protect the standard strategies of distilling whisky’.
Now owned by the Lalique Group in partnership with Swiss entrepreneur Hansjörg Wyss, this ethos has been upheld and the worldwide group, with a formidable portfolio of way of life manufacturers, has ensured that The Glenturret stays a hand-operated distillery, with a give attention to area of interest manufacturing of high-end high quality whisky.
The setting of the distillery is picture-perfect; and like many locations from days of outdated, it takes its title from its location. Sitting within the ‘hosh’ (which means foot of the Glen) on the banks of the River Turret it’s a fascinating place, with magic (and steam from the nonetheless!) filling the air. And as our day unfolds, we found the magic is not only within the air. Learn on to find extra.
The Chauffeur
The TLE Headquarters is in Edinburgh, approx. 1.5 hour’s drive from The Glenturret Distillery, nonetheless as our go to marked an important day, we wished to take advantage of our expertise and pattern the great assortment of whiskies we knew awaited. So, it posed the query ‘who could be the designated driver?’ The reply is Jim!
Jim? I hear you say, Jim, founding father of MHH Govt Journey, was our charming and chatty chauffeur, who The Glenturret workforce had organised to take us to and from the distillery so we might absolutely embrace the whisky tasting expertise.
On the agreed time, (in actual fact 10 minutes prior) Jim arrived on the pick-up level in Edinburgh and greeted us with heat and professionalism. With a spacious inside together with WIFI, charging factors, mints (it was too scorching for candies), chilled water and a Lalique journal, the Audi A8L was going to be greater than comfy for the journey forward.
As a driver to many well-known names, Jim had a number of tales to share, which mixed with the thrill of the day forward and the magnificent rolling Scottish countryside made the drive move in a short time.
The Distillery
The distillery is tucked away deep within the glen close to Crieff, the street resulting in the distillery is lined with olden timber and the distillery constructing itself lived as much as my expectations when it comes to old-world character. Inside, we have been greeted by Jamie Morrison – International Model Ambassador and our information for the day. Crammed with information and keenness, Jamie started to inform us the story of Scotland’s oldest working distillery – proper from the primary rental doc in 1763 to the present-day Lalique bottle, which is artwork deco in type, wider on the high to symbolise broad shoulders (power) and incorporates the Murray clan crest in a nod to the unique founders.
Every ‘room’ within the distillery is devoted to a person a part of the distilling course of and it was enormously spectacular to see how the operations are very a lot handbook and small-scale. Though some issues have moved on, again within the day the 25kg sacks of barley would have been manually heaved into manufacturing, no less than now they’ve a mechanism to do that strenuous job.
With every ‘room’ we visited got here new-found information (an excessive amount of to share on this assessment – we suggest you pay a go to your self to achieve perception into the finer particulars) My favorite a part of the tour was the washback the place we popped our heads into the 3metre deep casks, made out of Doulas Fir timber, and sniffed the potent liquid effervescent beneath. I received’t spoil the shock by sharing my response – in case you do go to.
On our guided tour we met Ian, the Distillery Supervisor, who was engrossed in his every day, as they are saying within the trade, ‘reduce by eye’ duties making certain the distillation course of proceeded to perfection. Fiona MacDonald – Course of Operator was busy rolling the hefty casks.
Fiona is the primary feminine to affix The Glenturret’s manufacturing workforce since Grace Gow who labored at The Glenturret within the 1860’s. Grace Gow sadly misplaced her life, when tending to the wash-back course of and in 2022, The Glenturret launched their Grace Gow Scholarship programme, a six-month, absolutely funded, full-time place designed to permit a profitable candidate to turn out to be absolutely immersed within the manufacturing course of at Scotland’s Oldest Working Distillery.
Fiona was awarded this scholarship in July 2022, giving her a full-time place working alongside the manufacturing workforce to achieve her Common Certificates in Distillation (GCD) from The Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD).
After completion of The Grace Gow Scholarship, Fiona utilized for a full-time Course of Operator job, the place she was profitable, becoming a member of The Glenturret’s manufacturing workforce on a full-time foundation since January 2023.
This scholarship scheme is a testomony to the dedication of ‘preserving the standard strategies of distilling whisky’.
Glen and Turret the resident cats have been additionally on the prowl. These two feline pals are pets with objective; cats eat mice, mice eat barley. Sufficient mentioned!
The Warehouse
After we completed the tour, we have been taken to one of many non-public warehouses which is residence to an abundance of ageing whisky – a really spectacular sight to behold.
Right here we sampled a collection of the effective whiskies produced on the distillery; this included a non-age assertion triple wooden, 10-year-old (to mark our celebration) and the 30-year-old Prowess. While we noticed, nosed, swirled, and sipped Jamie talked us by means of the tasting notes, with every nuance extremely evident.
The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant
After the whisky tasting, we strolled the quick distance from the warehouse to the Michelin-starred The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant. This spectacular eating expertise is the primary of its form in Scotland – a devoted effective eating restaurant inside a distillery. From outdoors it seems very unassuming, nonetheless, as soon as inside it’s a very totally different story.
Lalique, the French crystal, glassware, and way of life model, is synonymous with luxurious and the model actually lived as much as its fame at its namesake restaurant.
The décor is up to date with a contemporary Scottish contact and the Lalique golden crystal barley motif all through the furnishings is an impeccable of completion. The restaurant is spacious with quite a lot of seating codecs and the atmosphere is refined.
The lengthy bar is a key characteristic and never only a place to order a drink. It’s a gleaming murals; with artwork deco decanters, shapely bottles of single malts, and a effective assortment of uncommon wine adorning the extremely polished cabinets. Right here company can take a excessive stool and revel in a casual whisky flight and have interaction in an informal or informative dialogue with the educated bar workforce.
Throughout our time on the restaurant, the clientele was a mixture of nationalities and ages there for various events; with younger (fashionable!) {couples} having fun with a whisky flight, a big household of a number of generations cherishing an extended lunch, mature {couples} savouring the elegant expertise, and us!
Lead by acclaimed Scottish Chef, Mark Donald, whose culinary credentials embody positions at Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, Hibiscus, and Quantity One at The Balmoral his menu has been crafted to showcase the easiest of native Scottish produce, progressive cooking types and a contact of French panache.
The menu presents a seasonal and selection providing of dishes for every course.
To begin with the useful waitress prompt we go for a collection of 4 or 5 dishes to share, certainly one of which was smoked Padron peppers served with whipped roe and to my shock I couldn’t get sufficient of them.
Predominant programs adopted a meat, fish, and vegetarian format, I used to be torn between skate wing with black pudding or BBQ lamb. Selections, choices! They each seemed tempting and to my shock (I often favour fish over meat) I opted for the BBQ lamb and I used to be so very happy I did. BBQ pores and skin coated melt-in-the-mouth tender and pink lamb, served with St George mushrooms, wilted spinach and a tantalising jus. I savoured each morsel.
Ross opted for brand spanking new season asparagus and black truffle butter which he mentioned was top notch on the style issue too.
Dessert comprised of a candy or cheese choice; I loved the strawberry crème brulé, particularly the crispy caramelized topping however the cheese board was the star of the dessert present; even Ross, an actual cheese monster, was (nearly!) overwhelmed by the platter offered earlier than him.
The 600-bin wine listing has an emphasis on French wine, with a formidable assortment of uncommon and effective wines, together with some from the non-public assortment of co-owner Silvio Denz from his estates in Bordeaux, Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey in Sauternes and Chateau Faugeres in Saint-Emilion to call just a few. Govt Sommelier, Julien Beltzung, whose spectacular profession contains time on the landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong is available to share his wealth of superlative information.
The atmosphere is refined, the meals greater than beautiful and the service is totally first-class.
Ultimate Ideas
What a really great day!!
Though whisky isn’t my drink of alternative, it’s inconceivable to not really feel nice admiration and appreciation for what the workforce (each previous and current) has achieved right here.
I extremely suggest spending a full day on the distillery and its Michelin-starred restaurant and exploring each nook and cranny. Discuss to the pleasant workforce, work up an urge for food (and thirst), and most of all take your time to grasp the provenance, embrace the prowess and really feel the fervour.
