THEDAILYWHISKY

Most tequila casks in Scotch whisky are a seasoning: a few months at the end, a hint of agave, done. The Glasgow Distillery has gone the other way. Its new Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured 10 Year Old spent four and a half years in bourbon oak and then five and a half years in a single tequila cask, which means the tequila barrel had the spirit for longer than the bourbon barrel did.

It is a single cask of unpeated, double-distilled Glasgow single malt, cask no. 16/856, bottled at 55% ABV and limited to 230 bottles of 70cl at £59. It is the first release under the relaunched Glasgow Distillery Community, labelled Community Exclusive #1, and it is sold only to Community members through the distillery’s own website. Each bottle arrives in a blank gift carton with a sheet of stickers, so the packaging is finished by whoever buys it.

Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured: the key facts

Distillery: The Glasgow Distillery Company, Hillington, Glasgow (Lowlands, Scotland) Release: Community Exclusive #1

Age: 10 years old

Cask no.: 16/856

Spirit: Unpeated, double distilled

Distilled: 12 May 2016

Primary maturation:First-fill ex-bourbon barrel (200 litres), 4 years and 6 months Secondary maturation: Single tequila cask, filled 3 December 2020, 5 years and 6 months

Bottled: 20 June 2026

ABV: 55%

Outturn: 230 bottles, 70cl

Price: £59 (official RRP)

Availability: Glasgow Distillery Community members only, via glasgowdistillery.com

Why the tequila cask is the main event in Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured

The maths is what makes this bottle interesting. Filled on 12 May 2016 and moved into tequila oak on 3 December 2020, the spirit then sat in that second cask until June 2026. That is a full secondary maturation rather than a finish, and the distillery’s own description leans into the extended tequila influence.

Tequila is aged in oak, very often American oak barrels that previously held bourbon. So the cask that arrived in Hillington had already done a stint with bourbon, then with agave spirit, before meeting Glasgow new make that had itself spent its first years in first-fill bourbon wood. The result, on paper at least, is a whisky built on layers of American oak sweetness with agave on top.

That shows up clearly in the official notes. Agave syrup sits on the palate, and the white pepper the distillery calls out on both palate and finish is a descriptor you hear constantly around blanco and reposado tequila. The tropical fruit, vanilla and honey are the bourbon barrel and the Glasgow spirit doing what they do.

Glasgow’s unpeated spirit has always been a fruity, bright style, and the first-fill bourbon barrel would have pushed it further toward vanilla, banana and pineapple before the tequila cask ever arrived. Pairing a fruit-forward distillate with a spirit as vegetal and peppery as tequila is a logical move, and with six years of combined American oak and agave influence, this is about as committed to the idea as a distillery can be.

Official tasting notes

Tasting notes from The Glasgow Distillery. TDW has not yet tasted this release.

Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured 10 Year Old, tasting notes

Nose: Sweet vanilla, fresh greenery, juicy pineapple, ripe peach, rich honey, honeysuckle, a hint of banana

Palate: Gentle white pepper warmth, tropical fruit, foam banana sweets, crystallised pineapple, agave syrup, white chocolate, vanilla sponge cake, soft caramel

Finish: Long. Lingering white pepper, fresh lemon and lime, then vanilla ice cream, honeycomb and white chocolate

ABV: 55% | Cask type: First-fill ex-bourbon barrel, then a single tequila cask | Price:£59

The distillery’s own one-line summary is pineapple, citrus zest, vanilla and white pepper, and those four words also appear on the stickers that come in the box. At 55% ABV, a few drops of water should be worth trying once you have tasted it neat, especially to see whether the citrus on the finish opens further.

The gift carton you finish yourself

The packaging is the other headline. Glasgow has given the 1770 range a refreshed look for this release, and every bottle comes in a plain kraft gift carton printed with the Community branding and a set of stickers to apply yourself.

The stickers cover three things: Community-inspired cartoon characters (the dancing whisky glasses are hard to miss), the tasting notes in big graphic type (Pineapple, Vanilla, White Pepper, Citrus Zest) and the bottling details such as Tequila Cask Matured, Unpeated and the 10 Years Old badge. The distillery says it has tried the exercise itself and found it rather fun, and it is asking buyers to share photos of their finished cartons with the Community.

It is a smart idea for a members’ release. Every one of the 230 cartons will end up looking slightly different, and the distillery gets 230 small pieces of fan-made design in return. For anyone who keeps the box, it also turns a limited bottling into something genuinely personal.

Who is The Glasgow Distillery?

The Glasgow Distillery Company was founded in 2014 by Liam Hughes, Mike Hayward and Ian McDougall in Hillington, on the south-western edge of Glasgow. The name revives a historic one: Glasgow’s original distillery opened at Dundashill in 1770, traded for a period as The Glasgow Distillery Company and closed at the start of the twentieth century. That date is where the Glasgow 1770 single malt brand gets its name.

Makar Gin came first, in 2014. The first whisky casks were filled in 2015, across unpeated, peated and triple-distilled spirit, and the first Glasgow 1770 single malt reached the market in 2018. The core Signature range of The Original, Peated and Triple Distilled has since been joined by a long list of cask-finished limited editions, annual cask strength batches and, as the oldest stock has come of age, a run of 10-year-old single casks.

The first of those, a refill bourbon barrel (cask 15/10) bottled in March 2025 at 54% ABV, was also offered to Community members and sold out in under 20 minutes. A Sauternes cask 10-year-old followed later in 2025, and the distillery opened its visitor experience in July of that year. The Tequila Cask Matured release now opens a new chapter as the first bottle under the relaunched Community programme.

Price and availability

Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured 10 Year Old is priced at £59 for 70cl, which for a 10-year-old single cask at 55% ABV is a notably keen price.

It is sold exclusively through glasgowdistillery.com, and only to members of the Glasgow Distillery Community. Membership is free: create an account on the distillery’s website, log in, and the bottle becomes available to buy. The Community account also gives priority access to future releases. A personalised gift card can be added for £1, and the distillery’s shop offers free delivery on orders over £75.

International readers should check delivery options at checkout before counting on a bottle, as availability outside the UK depends on where the distillery ships. With 230 bottles and a members’ list that cleared the previous 10-year-old in under 20 minutes, the realistic advice is to join the Community now if you have not already.

Is Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured worth it?

We have not tasted this one yet, so this is a verdict on the proposition rather than the liquid. On that basis, it is a strong one.

£59 buys a decade-old single cask from one of Scotland’s most interesting young city distilleries, at a strength that has not been watered down for a mass-market shelf, with a maturation story you will not find on many other labels. The price sits alongside widely available core-range 10-year-old single malts, and this is a 230-bottle single cask with a full five-and-a-half-year secondary maturation.

This is for drinkers who enjoy fruit-led, ex-bourbon style single malt and want to see what a long spell in agave oak adds to it. It will also appeal to anyone collecting Glasgow’s 10-year-old single casks and to tequila drinkers curious about where Scotch and agave meet. If your favourite drams are heavily peated or rich with sherry, the official notes point somewhere quite different: tropical, peppery and bright.

Frequently asked questions

What is Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured 10 Year Old? It is a single cask single malt Scotch whisky from The Glasgow Distillery, released as Community Exclusive #1 for the relaunched Glasgow Distillery Community. Cask no. 16/856 holds unpeated, double-distilled spirit from May 2016, matured first in a first-fill ex-bourbon barrel and then in a single tequila cask. It is bottled at 55% ABV, with 230 bottles.

How long was Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured in the tequila cask? The whisky spent 4 years and 6 months in a first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, then 5 years and 6 months in a single tequila cask from December 2020 until bottling in June 2026. That makes the tequila cask the longer of the two maturations, so this is a full secondary maturation rather than a short finish.

What does Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured taste like? According to the distillery, the nose brings vanilla, fresh greenery, pineapple, peach, honey and honeysuckle. The palate opens with white pepper warmth, then tropical fruit, foam banana sweets, crystallised pineapple, agave syrup, white chocolate and vanilla sponge. The finish combines white pepper, lemon and lime with vanilla ice cream, honeycomb and white chocolate.

How much does Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured 10 Year Old cost? The official price is £59 for a 70cl bottle at 55% ABV, sold through The Glasgow Distillery’s own website. A personalised gift card can be added for £1. For a 10-year-old single cask single malt limited to 230 bottles, that is a competitive price, and every bottle includes a gift carton with stickers.

Where can I buy Glasgow 1770 Tequila Cask Matured? It is sold only on glasgowdistillery.com and only to members of the Glasgow Distillery Community. Joining is free: create an account, log in and the release becomes available. International buyers should confirm delivery options at checkout. With only 230 bottles, and the previous Community 10-year-old selling out in under 20 minutes, it is unlikely to last long.

What is the Glasgow Distillery Community? The Glasgow Distillery Community is the distillery’s free members’ club. Members get priority access to new and limited releases, and some bottlings, including this Tequila Cask Matured 10 Year Old, are sold exclusively to them. The programme has been relaunched, and this release is the first Community Exclusive under the new format, numbered #1.