Review #916 - Meikle Toir The Turbo (2025)
After Billy Walker and his consortium purchased GlenAllachie distillery in 2017, they had a vision to reinvent the brand and its single malt. This distillery had traditionally produced plain stock for use in blended whiskies, but Billy and his team wanted to create a peated Speyside single malt which would stand out in the region; they began production of this new style in 2018, and when it was first released in 2023, they chose to call it 'Meikle Toir,' which means 'big pursuit.' Currently, they produce about 100,000 liters of this spirit style each year.
There are four parts to the Meikle Toir core range: The Original (aged in first fill bourbon, virgin American oak, and rye casks), The Sherry One (aged in bourbon barrels, Oloroso sherry, and PX sherry casks), The Chinquapin One (aged in bourbon barrels and virgin Chinquapin oak casks), and this Turbo that we're looking at today.
The first 3 editions in that core range are peated to roughly 35ppm, but they up that for this Turbo version: 72ppm of peat, which, as far as we can tell, is a reading on the spirit itself, not the barley. GlenAllachie achieves this high peat level by taking a very narrow cut within the middle of the heart cut during the distillation process, when the spirit coming off of the stills has its highest peat content.
For this 2025 edition of The Turbo, a total of 9 casks were selected for the batch: 5 virgin American oak casks, along with 4 Oloroso hogsheads. The resulting 5 year old whisky has a rich, dark color which we know is natural, as GlenAllachie now prints on all of their labels that they don't use added coloring (or chill filtration). At the time of bottling, the strength for this release was set to 50% ABV, and this is by far the version of the Meikle Toir core range that is the hardest to find.
Meikle Toir The Turbo (2025)
Scotland/Speyside - Single Malt
Price: USD 105 (2026)
Age Statement: 5 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Cask Makeup: Virgin American oak and Oloroso sherry hogsheads
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; bottled 2025
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times over 2 months from a sample. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Intense - a big peat monster. Charcoal, rich and savory barbecue notes, juicy sweet oranges, lots of wood (Mesquite) smoke; there's a bit of sharper creosote or tar as well in the smoke profile, but more sweetness arrives in the forms of caramel and medjool date, candied strawberry, syrupy blackberry, and a hint of fruitcake.
Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium-thick texture. It's rich and interesting - effervescent, strong creosote-accented peat, dark notes of chocolate and prune, plum and grape. It's quite decadent, and we get hints of malt and diesel fumes in the background; later, it's cherries and wood smoke.
Finish: Both sweet and sharp, strong lots of dark fruit like cherry, overripe plum, and blackberry, but also charcoal, tannins, and a bit of day-old campfire ash. Candied pecans, caramel, peat, and some heat from the spirit... it's a long finish.
Final Note: This single malt has an unusual profile, and compared to other whiskies bottled at a strength of 50% ABV, this is absolutely packed with flavor. The peat is very strong to start, but it does mellow with time; there's quite a strong red fruit or dark fruit influence from those sherry casks, but also a nice spice and caramel from the virgin oak. We can see why this is the most desired of the Meikle Toir range - it's a really good whisky, very complex and multi-faceted for its age.
Value is tricky, as the price for this bottle seems to fluctuate wildly depending on where you buy it. It's a hard bottle to find due to the limited number produced from just those 9 casks, so this whisky does actually have a secondary price that's higher than the suggested retail price. If you can get it for retail, it's well worth the purchase; depending on the auction price, it could be worth it on the secondary market as well.
Our Rating: 7.9 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.78
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other GlenAllachie/Meikle Toir reviews:
Review #862 - Meikle Toir 'The Sherry One'
Review #814 - GlenAllachie Sinteis Series - 2014 Chinquapin & Pedro Ximenez Cask Matured
Review #666 - GlenAllachie Masters of Wood - 17 Year Mizunara & Oloroso Sherry Finish
Review #525 - GlenAllachie 25 Year
