DramMaster Daily Whisky News — 22 September 2026

By Murray

Glasgow 1770 Turns Ten With First Peated 10 Year Old

The Glasgow Distillery has released its first Glasgow 1770 10 Year Old Peated Single Malt, limited to 550 bottles at 54% ABV. The whisky is a marriage of three ex-bourbon casks: two refill barrels and one first-fill barrel. Natural colour, non-chill filtered.

Peated production at the distillery began in 2016, one year after the core single malt program launched. Peated spirit now accounts for five months of output each year. This release is the first to reach a full decade from those original 2016 runs.

Sebastian Bunford-Jones, head of sales and marketing, said: "Reaching ten years with our peated single malt feels like a really significant moment for us." The distillery chose ex-bourbon maturation deliberately, aiming for what they call an "honest spirit-forward profile." Official tasting notes describe roasted pineapple, soft smoke, gentle vanilla, waxy lemon, and dried orange peel.

The whisky is available through the distillery website and select UK retailers, with Germany and Finland to follow later this year. Glasgow Distillery became the first independent single malt distillery in Glasgow in over 100 years when it began production in 2015.

Murray's take: 550 bottles is a whisper of a release, but the milestone matters. A decade of peated spirit from an independent Glasgow distillery that only started in 2015 is a real marker. The choice to keep it in ex-bourbon rather than chasing a sherry finish shows restraint. At 54% ABV and natural colour, this is a distillery letting the cask do the talking. The problem is getting one. With 550 bottles split across the UK, Germany, and Finland, most readers will not. That is the reality of small-batch Scotch at this age.

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Cotswolds Distillery Taps Maple Syrup Casks for Fifth Harvest Release

Cotswolds Distillery has released Round Hill Harvest, the fifth expression in its Harvest Series. The 55% ABV whisky launches 25 September, limited to 1,200 bottles at £110 ($147) for 700ml.

Whisky maker Alice Pearson combined ex-maple syrup casks, ex-peated whisky quarter casks, and a single oloroso sherry hogshead. The maple syrup casks, around four and a half years old, form the core. Peated casks aged six or seven years balance the sweetness with herbal, savourous notes. The sherry hogshead fills a gap in the mid-palate.

Each Harvest Series edition draws inspiration from a painting. This one takes its name from Near Traitor's Ford by local artist Jeffrey Pratt, depicting Round Hill near the spot where founder Dan Szor first saw barley growing and decided to build a distillery.

Pearson, named Young Achiever of the Year at The Spirits Business Awards 2024, has created every whisky in the series since the first, Golden Wold, in 2021. She said the painting's bright colours inspired a whisky that felt "free and fun, and not too technical and uptight."

Murray's take: Maple syrup casks are unusual enough to justify attention. The combination of maple, peat, and oloroso in one bottle could easily become a mess. Pearson's decision to use the peated casks as a counterweight to maple sweetness rather than a competing flavour is the right instinct. £110 for a 55% ABV limited edition from a distillery with a track record is fair pricing. The Harvest Series has built credibility across five editions. This one stretches the cask experimentation further than previous releases.

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Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame Inducts 24th Class

The Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame welcomed seven inductees at a ceremony in Louisville on 20 September 2026. The 24th class was honoured at The Marriott Louisville East, drawing a record crowd of more than 300 industry leaders and enthusiasts with a livestream extending worldwide.

The inductees include Shane Baker and E. Patrick Heist, co-founders of Ferm Solutions and Wilderness Trail Distillery. The late W.L. Lyons Brown Sr. and the late George Garvin Brown II were recognised for building Brown-Forman into the largest Kentucky-based distilling company after Prohibition. Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers' Association since 2008, was honoured for legislative reforms and expansion of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Author and journalist Fred Minnick was inducted as one of bourbon's modern storytellers. Former Kentucky State Senator John W. Schickel was recognised for landmark alcohol law reforms.

Governor Andy Beshear provided welcome remarks. The Hall of Fame was founded in 2001 by the KDA and represents the highest honour from Kentucky's $10.6 billion bourbon industry, which produces 95% of the world's bourbon and supports 24,000 jobs.

Murray's take: Bourbon's Hall of Fame does something Scotch's equivalent does not. It inducts storytellers and legislators alongside distillers. Fred Minnick getting in tells you the industry recognises that bourbon's growth is not just about liquid. It is about narrative. The Brown-Forman names anchor the post-Prohibition rebuild. Baker and Heist represent the craft-distilling wave that reshaped Kentucky over the past decade. Seven inductees across three categories is a balanced class.

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Belgrove Distillery Lets Wild Tasmanian Yeast Run the Show

Peter Bignell at Belgrove Distillery in Kempton, Tasmania, practices open-vat fermentation using wild airborne yeasts. He uses 120-year-old oak casks of 2,500 litres, open at the top, letting natural yeast from the surrounding farmland initiate fermentation. The process echoes Belgian Lambic brewing, where wort is exposed to night air to capture ambient microflora.

Fermentation at Belgrove lasts two to four weeks, far longer than most distilleries. Bignell may supplement with commercial yeast to aid the process, but the starting culture is wild Tasmanian yeast. The 120-year-old casks were once wine vessels, dismantled for shipping and reassembled on site. The thick, ancient oak contributes its own character to fermentation.

As an independent distillery doing limited releases, Bignell can let each batch carry its own signature. Consistency is not the goal. The combination of wild yeast, bacteria, wood, rainwater, and Tasmanian climate produces whiskies unique to the site.

Murray's take: Most distilleries spend millions controlling fermentation. Bignell rolls back the roof and lets the valley decide. This is not a gimmick. It is the same principle that makes Lambic beer impossible to replicate outside its specific microbiome. Belgrove whiskies taste like Belgrove because nobody else has that air, those casks, or that willingness to let variation happen. The craft whisky movement talks about terroir constantly. Bignell is one of the few actually practising it.

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SMWS Launches Whisky Equinox With Two Limited Bottlings

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has launched Whisky Equinox, a new annual occasion marking the start of whisky season. The initiative calls on whisky drinkers to raise a dram on the evening of 23 September, when the autumn equinox falls at 1:06am, and share the moment using hashtag #WhiskyEquinox.

To mark the launch, the Society is releasing two 35cl bottlings. Spice It Up After Dark is an 11 Year Old Highland single malt at 60.9% ABV, matured in a first-fill Spanish oak ex-PX sherry hogshead. Tasting notes describe caramel, dark chocolate, cheroots, leather, nutmeg, and a finish of dry oak, black coffee, cinnamon, and ginger. Riesling Spritz in the Sun is a 12 Year Old Speyside single malt at 57.7% ABV, matured in a first-fill ex-bourbon hogshead. Notes include cedar, sandalwood, blood orange zest, buttered scones, clotted cream, vanilla, and lemon verbena.

The Society will hold a launch event on 23 September at its Members' Room at 28 Queen Street in Edinburgh, featuring a gong sound bath, a seasonal poem reading, and a guided tasting. A second event on 15 October, Light Side, Dark Side: An Autumn Equinox Whisky Journey, will feature a six-dram tasting and dinner.

Both bottlings are available from the SMWS website to members and non-members, priced at £39 each or £75 for the pair.

Murray's take: Whisky has never had an annual moment the way beer has Oktoberfest or wine has Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Whether Whisky Equinox catches on is an open question, but the SMWS is the right body to try. Two 35cl bottles at £39 each is an accessible entry point for a society whose full-size bottlings often run higher. The real draw is the launch event in Edinburgh. A gong bath before a whisky tasting is not for everyone, but it signals the Society is not chasing the mainstream. Almost 100 limited-edition releases through the busiest season is the bigger story. That is a serious volume of cask-strength single casks landing between now and Christmas.

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