Glenglassaugh Torfa 50% NAS

Distillery	Glenglassaugh
Bottler	OB
Serie	Torfa
Bottled for	X
Distilled date	Not Speciefied
Bottling date	2014
Country	Scotland
Region	Eastern Highlands
Age	Not Speciefied
Cask Type	Bourbon Cask
Cask Number	X
Alcohol percentage	50
Volume	0,70
Condition	In original container
Label	Perfect
Stock	0

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (81)

This one was peated to 20ppm, so rather higher than the AnCnocs, but remember that those ppms are related to the malted barley, and that scales can change quite a lot after distillation, depending on the shapes and sizes of the stills, on the cuts etc... Torfa must mean peat in some language, as Torf is peat in German – and Alsatian, haha.

Colour: white wine. Nose: bigger, rawer, rougher. That was to be expected, this baby should be quite younger than the AnCnocs. I cannot not think of some very young Caol Ila. Ashes, paraffin, lemons, fresh putty and seashells. Where’s the distillery again? And the warehouses? With water: much more ‘youth’. Eau-de-vie-ish.

Mouth (neat): the ‘young’ fruits play first fiddles, especially pears and pineapples, which is an obvious sign of youth. On the other hand, there’s a sweet creaminess (barley syrup) that balances that, with also touches of ginger liqueur and honeydew. Smoky pears. With water: nice. The barley talks, and there’s quite some honey too.

Finish: a very funny finish and retro-olfaction all on smoked salmon and limejuice.

Comments: I like it that they didn’t try to ‘dope’ this youngster using ueberactive casks and silly wines. In my opinion it’s going to be another great peater once it’s fully mature, which it might not quite be yet.

Gal Granov (81)

Just a few weeks ago I’ve written about this new expression from GG called the Torfa when it was released. Young, peated GG (not that there are any old GG made by the new owners), but what’s unique is that they made peaty. Peated malts work well when young usually, that is if you’re into peat… I quite like peated malts, and before it gets too hot for any of the peated whiskies, I decide to give this a try, why not? Non-chill filtered, with natural colour and at 50%, this is how young NAS should be (if you’re bottling it young, let us enjoy the ABV right?). So here goes:

Nose: Crisp and young. Lots of apples/pears and sweet fruit with a peaty bacony edge. It well could be a young coal ila moch or the like. Sweet peat and traces of new make. It’s very young and zesty too.

Palate: A bit rough but creamy and sweet. Vanilla cream and pear apple and peach compote. Sweet syrup. Smoke. Bacon crisps. Ash.

Finish : smoky. Bitter with a hint of ash and lemon


Bottom line:

It’s a young, and quite easy to drink and enjoy kind of whisky. It’s not fully mature, and it does have some rough edges, a bit new make-ish, but not in a bad way.

Gal Granov