At Brown-Forman’s media lunch in Singapore last week, we got to try a whisky that isn't available anywhere in the world yet. The Glenglassaugh 15 Years Old, scheduled for a mid-2026 release, was poured alongside the rest of the distillery's existing core range. Brown-Forman Brand Representative Stuart Fear remind us that this was a preview of a preview: the packaging hadn't even been finalised, and we were among the small first group of people to have tried it.

Glenglassaugh sits in Sandend Bay, Portsoy on the Aberdeenshire coast, which puts it amongst the handful of Highland distilleries that qualify as coastal. It was built in 1875 by James Moir, a Portsoy grocer who moved into distilling on the back of his trade in the local provisions business.

What's of interest to anyone drinking the modern releases is the gap in its production from 1986 to 2008, a 22-year stretch during which no spirit was made at all. The closure landed in the middle of the so-called "whisky loch" period, when a glut of unsold Scotch pushed many distilleries into silence. Glenglassaugh came back in 2008, but the inventory gap that closure created is still working through the range today.

2016 marked the year of its true revival, when American spirits group Brown-Forman – better known for Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve – scooped it up alongside Benriach and Glendronach. Dr Rachel Barrie (by all counts the most prominent female whiskymaker) was brought across to oversee all three. In 2023, a new Glenglassaugh core range arrived under her direction: Glenglassaugh12 Years Old, Glenglassaugh Sandend, and the lightly peated Glenglassaugh Portsoy. We covered all three in an earlier piece when they landed in Singapore.

The new Glenglassaugh 15 Years Old slots in above the 12 as the oldest expression in the modern core range. It also makes a slightly different argument about the distillery. The 12, Sandend and Portsoy are all primarily bourbon cask-led whiskies with Sherry or wine cask in support. The Glenglassaugh 15 reverses that ratio: a majority of the spirit comes out of Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks, with the rest from bourbon. PX is the sweetest, darkest of the Spanish Sherry styles, made from sun-dried Pedro Ximénez grapes in Jerez. It lands at 46% ABV.

As you could have surmised there's a structural reason the 15 only arrives now. With the long mothballing, the modern Glenglassaugh range has had to be built almost entirely on post-2008 stock, which simply hadn't reached an age beyond the mid-teens. A 15-year-old age statement at this point means spirit laid down in the first couple of years when it was restarted has finally come of age.

Glenglassaugh runs an unusually long 80-hour fermentation (most Scotch fermentations sit somewhere between 48 and 72 hours), draws its production water from the Glassaugh Spring, and matures its spirit in coastal warehouses where North Sea air gets into the dunnage. In her interview with us, Dr Rachel tends to describe Glenglassaugh as the most place-led of the three Brown-Forman distilleries, the one where the elements do most of the work. The output is a fruit-forward, ester-driven spirit, with tropical and stone fruit notes and a streak of mineral salinity running underneath.

Fifteen years in predominantly PX casks is a long time for a lighter, ester-driven spirit. How would that signature coastal character show up with all that Sherry? Let’s give it a try.

Whisky Review: Glenglassaugh 15 Years Old, 46% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Mahogany.

Nose: The PX signature is clear, but rather estery, luscious and rounded. Sultanas and raisins set the tone, caramel apples, more stewed red fruits and dark caramel following in behind them, slightly jammy in a cooked-down sort of way. A soft cacao note sits further back alongside a wisp of nuttiness. There’s also a lifted fresh purple florals running through which is a very nice touch.

Palate: Medium-bodied, spiced, fairly rounded. Opens sweet and dark: caramel, stewed red fruits, dark chocolate. The PX-led spice settles in with cinnamon and nutmeg before nuttiness comes up, and then more dark chocolate doubles back. Some dried tobacco and cigar notes appearing around mid-palate. The coastal element appears gentler here, sitting beneath the Sherry, but it does eventually show up on the back towards the finish.

Finish: Medium-plus length. Caramel and cinnamon holding the centre, with light dry oak grip. The coastal salinity finds proper focus here along with some savoury nuttiness. Some sweet orchard fruit echoes on the tail with stewed apricots signing off.

My Thoughts:

This is the richest and darkest expression in the Glenglassaugh core range, and it seems to drink slightly older than its age with those cigar, dark chocolate, stewed fruits. The coastal salinity that runs across the core range is still in there, but it's pushed back, arriving later on the palate and landing in proper focus on the finish.

But for all the Sherry, it retains a fair amount of balance and lusciousness. The obvious reference point, sitting one shelf over in the same Brown-Forman stable, is the Glendronach 15 Year Old 'Revival'.

Glendronach has long been the benchmark for what extended PX maturation does to a Highland malt. But the Glenglassaugh 15 isn't a Glendronach in disguise. The two house spirits are different before any cask gets near them: you will still find the Glenglassaugh 15 lighter, more tropical, more ester-driven. The Glendronach 15 is built on the Sherry, while the Glenglassaugh 15 has the Sherry sitting on top of a coastal, estery spirit underneath. Same source of warmth but quite different core spirits.

It's also worth noting that this is the first chance to taste what the modern, post-revival house spirit does once it's allowed proper tertiary development inside the standard range. The 12 and the two NAS bottles are still showing the ester-led, fruit-forward side of the spirit. The 15 shows a lot of promise that it all comes together really well when Sherry oak and years start to compound for a Glenglassaugh malt.

@CharsiuCharlie