GLEN TURNER Pure Malt 12yo

Although France’s La Martiniquaise group was founded in 1934, it didn’t start working with Scotch until 1969 when it launched the Label 5 blended whisky brand.

It established the Glen Turner Blending Company in 1981 to manage Label 5 and later the Glen Turner ‘pure malt’ brand. The company changed its name in 2001 to the Glen Turner Distillery Ltd, which began a period of rapid expansion for the French company in Scotch.

The group established the First Blending Company in 2004 as a subsidiary to build and operate a huge 28-hectare maturation, blending and bottling facility in Bathgate, Edinburgh.

In 2008 Glen Turner purchased the Glen Moray distillery from the Glenmorangie Company, which has been a core component of its Label 5 blend. By then, work had already begun building a grain distillery at the Bathgate site – Scotland’s first for 40 years. Starlaw distillery opened in 2010 and its whisky is now being used as a filling for Label 5 and Sir Edward’s.

The opening of Starlaw prompted another name change for the group to the Glen Turner Company.