Glasgow 5yo
Finn Thomson Whisky - Single Cask | 56.2% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Glasgow are really bringing the goods. Touch expensive.
Always Check Your Emails.
Since moving to the Misty Isle I’ve spent a lot more time looking through the telescopic sight on my whisky rifle, than I have pulling the trigger. Release after release has been left un-sniped, for my buying has been very specific, and very deliberate.
Leaving the catchment area of Perthshire meant that my auction habits also fell by the wayside, because collecting from their premises was now intermittently possible, and shipping is always quite expensive for one or two bottles, compared with shops. I used to spend quite a lot of time “nipping to Daddy’s special place” when we were up in Perth shopping, so it’s a relief in a way that I’m not having to make excuses to go collect my latest auction win.
A few auction cycles ago I decided to have a wee look at what was occurring in auctions these days. It’s been 6 or so months since my last dalliance, and I wondered if there would be the same old swathe of regulars. I also wondered if there would be anything that piqued my current interest.
I typed in Glen Garioch, obviously, and saw there were a few interesting bottles, including a bottle of the Cadenhead’s Odense Shop bottling I reviewed ages ago. A few other heritage bottles and the typical madness of higher age statement bids aside, nothing else tickled my fancy. A cheeky bid was cast for the 10yo Odense.
I typed in Ardnamurchan, obviously. Some interesting stuff there - Nickolls & Perks and CK.339 single casks, a few Paul Launois bottlings and some indies. Nothing I wanted to bid for right now. Then onto a few Ben Nevis and Woodrow’s searches, just because. Then I typed in Glasgow.
Since that first experience with the Manzanilla single cask release, I’ve been thinking about Glasgow quite a lot. The Cognac Small Batch was good too, and then the Tokaji 2nd batch was interesting. A few samples from the team and a small 5cl sample of their triple distilled, and Glasgow Distillery has been firmly on my hit list.
Alongside a few of their cask strength sherry blasters was a Finn Thomson Glasgow 5yo, the same one I saw in Malts & Spirits in Perth at Christmas. I chose the Glencadam Tawny Port instead on account of the Finn Thomson Glasgow being £80 and not willing to make a leap for it at that stage, when I’d not tried any Glasgow yet.
With what I know now though, it would probably be worth a cheeky bid and so stuck in a maximum £50 and left it at that. I closed the browser, got on with my day and forgot all about the auction. My auction account is on a different email to all my daily stuff, and so it was with a bolt of surprise, checking that email account for something unrelated, that I saw multiple emails from the auction website, one of them stating that my account was being suspended on account of non-payment.
I’d won both bottles - the Glen Garioch 10yo and the Glasgow 5yo - but due to the very clear payment terms of 7 days having been breached by a further 7 by the time I checked my emails, I was in big trouble. How time flies when your eye is off the ball. I’d received a few emails from staff too, reminding me that I’d signed up for this lark, and I needed to pay my invoices asap.
Embarrassed, I sheepishly, apologetically wrote an honest reply - I’d forgotten all about it. Life is busy right now and it just slipped through the holey net. Luckily for me they were very forgiving and allowed me to square up and reactivate my account. Naughty Douglas. To make amends I paid the high price for shipping, and gave myself a stern talking to.
Review
Glasgow 5yo, Finn Thomson, Peated Single Cask in Virgin Oak, 56.2% ABV
£75-80 rrp (£55 at auction incl. fees)
After a few days the parcel doth arrived at Castle Crystal, and that evening I popped open the Glasgow, eager to find out what it meant. Before I did though, I posted a wee picture on Instahoot and the man himsel’, Finn Thomson, left me a wee voice message, telling me a little about how this Glasgow 5yo had come to be.
Paraphrasing, Finn had a hip flask full of the stuff, straight from cask, along with a group on a hillwalk. They crested hill, cracked flask and poured dram during downpour. Some of that lovely Scottish rain got in the glass and reduced it from a 61% ABV searing eyeball wobbler to what we have in the bottle now. He gets big bananas. I’m getting excited.
This bottle from retail was £80 at the tail end of last year - I see now it’s circling around £75. I won this at auction for £55 including fees, with another £5 on top for shipping (£10 shipping split between two bottles). That makes this a £15 or so less than retail auction win. Worth the savings?
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Glasgow are really bringing the goods. Touch expensive.
Nose
Mint smoke. Sweet smoke. BQ meats - pork. Burning cedar. Bright red/black. Petrichor, menthol. Clay. Toast. Christmas decorations. Wisp of creosote. Honey glazed roasted peanuts.
Palate
Big red smokey sweet. Burnt sweetcorn. Salt & pepper. Toasted banana. Sweet ash. Cherry Tunes! Bonfire smoke, oak chips, squash ball. Lingering peat, malty teak. Smoked vanilla.
The Dregs
It’s bold and rich at the bottled strength of 56.2%, and there’s a very strong sense of plastic tub left in the sun - a synthetic note. The peat element is big too, really giving the marshmallow over bonfire vibe from the off. I’m digging it immediately.
The colour of this whisky is amazing - dark vivid red. I’m looking for why on the beautifully presented FT website and find that this is a 5yo that was matured in a single virgin oak barrel. No sherry. No nothing, just virgin oak juiciness. A glorious job it’s done too because, drinking with my eyes, it looks incredible in the weighty, faceted bottle. Like the website, Finn Thomson has done a fantastic job of the design of the bottle, and premium, despite the negative connotations in whisky right now, is what this is - it looks and feels great in the hand, and not out of place on a polished teak console.
When I first had contact with Finn Thomson’s bottle, in the 9yo Blair Athol - one of the first releases from the indie brand - the PR images all had beautiful ceramic stoppers on the bottles. When I got mine it had a black wooden one. Despite the promises to send a ceramic one to me, it never materialised - which is a good thing, because by the time it would have arrived the bottle would’ve been empty; a waste of a ceramic stopper.
I’m delighted to see it on this one, all cracked green and bubbling glaze. It’s a really striking element to an already striking package; removing the stopper for another dram is a delight. The bottle comes in an octagonal tube as well, but like the first tube for the Blair Athol, this tube is also struggling to keep its lid on - in this day of minimising waste, I would like to see this extraneous carton gone completely. Let the bottle sing, even in transit.
Anyway, I say all that because I’ve spent a lot of time with this bottle since it arrived, enough that it’s already down to the last inch or so. I’ve sampled it out a few times, but mostly I’ve been returning to it every night, seeking more of those interesting cracks of flavour. Picking up the heavy bottomed bottle and gripping that faceted glass has been a joy, much like the whisky inside.
The nose is a touch more engaging than the palate though, not to diminish the experience at all, just to note that all the promise of what the nose is finding isn’t carried through 1:1. The palate is big smokey sweet spice, and the finish is long, tingling. Despite the ABV I’m content to whizz along at max speed, with water taking that smouldering edge off and rounding out the sweetness. As to be expected, I prefer it at the full cinematic experience strength, eeking out the dram for hours.
A great Glasgow expression. 5yo - you’d not know it. For £55 this is a fantastic experience, but for the full whack of £75-80? I start to struggle, knowing that Glasgow are putting out certified bangers for under £60. I’d have loved to see this indy around that mark, and I’d be going to the shoppe right now to secure another, but as it stands I’ll leave it at a very good experience, and look for a replacement on the secondary.
Glasgow are really bringing the goods; another glowing beacon lights up on the map of promise.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DC
-
Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.
