Glasgow 1770 10 Year Old Cask #15/10 & Fragrant Drops Holyrood 5yo Cask #35

Glasgow 1770 10 Year Old Cask #15/10

Region: Lowlands

ABV: 54%

Price: £69.00

A celebratory single cask release from Glasgow Distillery. Unpeated, double distilled spirit filled into a refill ex bourbon barrel on 20 March 2015 and bottled on 24 March 2025 at ten years old. With an outturn of 230 bottles, and sold exclusively to members of the Glasgow Distillery Community. 

Nose

The nose opens with some banana peel, green apple slices, crumbly oatcakes, flat limeade and soft vanilla sweetness in the background. It's immediately fruity and sweet, with a bit of biscuitiness mixed in too. There's a bit of dustiness that we're finding - a mixture of oak chippings and a little cardboard too. Time and air brings out even more fruits - fresh peach, a little pineapple, even a little bit of apricot. The alcohol is present but reasonably well integrated.

Palate

The palate opens with fizzy Haribo's, a mixture of cola bottles and cherries, in fact it's got a bit of a cherry coke flavour to start, moving into lime zest, buttery shortbread fingers and apple pie (crust and filling). The palate develops into drier oak flavours towards the good length finish, it's a tad astringent and we're finding some grapefruit peel and a little bit of quinine. The mouthfeel is fine, a tad thinner than we'd like, but time and air brings more of a vanilla sponge cake and caster sugar sweetness out.

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has a bit more cask coming through - it's lost a fair bit of sweetness and fruitiness, instead replaced by drier oak, cardboard and a little eucalyptus too. There's still some citrus in the background, but we prefer the nose without water.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate has more of a buttery pastry, flaked almond, custard cream biscuit-like flavour - definitely more cask driven, covering some of that fruity Glasgow spirit. It's pleasant with water, but again, we prefer the undiluted version.

Conclusion

If there was a category for Fruit Bomb style whiskies, this would fall straight into it. Lots of spirit character balanced nicely with refill wood that shines at only 10 years old. We like what Glasgow distillery are doing and we're excited to see how the spirit continues to mature, hopefully it'll keep up this level of quality.

Score: 7.5/10

Value

The opportunity to try the first 10yo from the distillery for £69 seems like a bargain to us.

Fragrant Drops Holyrood 5yo Cask #35

Region: Lowlands

ABV: 57.6%

Price: £68.95

Distilled at Holyrood distillery on the 1st October 2019, and fully matured for five years in a fresh bourbon barrel. This release was bottled on the 10th February 2025 with an outturn of 256 bottles. 

Nose

The nose opens with soft peaches, esthery notes of pineapples, mango puree and ripe bananas. It's fragrant, fruity and sweet, with more pink lady apples and whipped cream coming through as we continue to nose. The alcohol is very well balanced for just shy of 58% - there's a light tingle but it's integrated well. Time and air brings out melon balls, pear skin and white flowers that start to emerge.

Palate

The palate opens with blood orange soaked sponge cake, a little olive oil, cocoa butter, melon liqueur, fudge and vanilla wafers. The cask is more prominent on the palate than on the nose, but there's still a good amount of tropical, esther-driven fruits that sit in the background - more of those pineapples, mangos and even a little passionfruit. The mouthfeel has a lovely oily texture, and we're getting more of those maltier flavours with sweet baked goods and some milk chocolate coming through with time and air.

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose brings forward more butter, cocoa and milky chocolate aromas, and also feels a little more youthful - those fruiter, esthery aromas are now a little yeasty and bready. Saying that, it's still a pleasantly sweet and rich nose.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate maintains the oily mouthfeel, now more of a buttery texture and the flavours follow along that suit. Lots of chocolate, fudge and baked merengue. Further sips reveal more citrus peel and hard boiled sweeties. Water brings a richer palate, it's pleasant but you may prefer the undiluted palate like us.

Conclusion

A really well done single cask, Holyrood are known for their experimental spirit production and this has worked out quite well in our opinion. The cask has integrated exceptionally well for only 5 years maturation, and the spirit is tropical, sweet and fruity creating something really tasty.

Score: 7.5/10

Value

This is a fair bit cheaper than the distilleries own single cask releases.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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