Tag Archives: Glen Grant

BMC Scottish Classics – Royal Brackla 16 year 40% + Glen Grant 15 year 50%

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After exploring a trio from South Africa, our Bombay Malt & Cigar evening closed on a classic note. Whilst I thoroughly enjoy exploring whisky experiments and drams from many lands, there is simply nothing like a good classic Scottish single malt.

Knowing this, our whisky host added two well-known standards:

  • Royal Brackla 16 year and
  • A new batch strength Glen Grant 15 year expression

Both were Original Bottlings… Both true treats!

What did we think?

Royal Brackla 16 year “The Cawdor Estate” 40% 

  • Nose – Oh yes! Those lovely orchard fruits you can count on with a Royal Brackla! Crisp green apple, juicy with a drizzle of honey
  • Palate – Soft, well-rounded, fruity, enveloping one in a delicious warmth
  • Finish – Simply dripping with honey

Such a perfect classic, easy drinking dram.

Glen Grant 15 year Batch Strength 50% 

  • Nose – Happiness! A delightful, sweet, and fruity aroma with lemony high notes, morphed into a delicious lemon custard, dessert in a glass! The more it opened, the more joyful it became! Ice cream sandwich, cookies and cream, malty biscuits, lemon sorbet with vodka!
  • Palate – Same vein as the nose, nicely rounded, a good mouth feel, very approachable for 50%, just enough kick to make it interesting
  • Finish – Lovely
  • Water – Just adds a bit of spice

What can one say? Really rather nice!

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Whisky Show 2024 – Hunter Laing

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After exploring Hunter Laing & Co‘s Ardnahoe distillery, we focused on exploring what put these folks on the map since 2013 – their independent bottles and blends! It was Day 2 of the 2024 Whisky Show in London and we were primed to explore something truly special.

Scarabus 10 year 46%

We were directed to first explore Scarabus – a series dedicated to Islay malts and a guessing game between Caol Ila and Lagavulin. It is a mix of re-fill, ex-bourbon, and virgin American oak casks. As I’d sampled it relatively recently, I passed, however, my tasting companion enjoyed it!

First off was an expression from their First Editions series….

Auchriosk 25 years (1996 / 2022) PX Sherry Butt HL19727 48%  (Hunter Laing – First Editions) 

  • Nose – Fruity, strawberries, a cornucopia of different berries, making a luscious fruit compote, sweet spice, and cream, it continued to evolve the more time it spent in the glass to have the fruits and berries joined by chocolate and nuts
  • Palate – Spicy, black pepper and strawberries, soft and understated, incredibly balanced and smooth, complex, nuanced
  • Finish – Mmmmm…. raisins, spice, caramel, and all things nice

This was a lovely dram – well worth the wait for 25 years.

We then moved on to their Old Malt Cask series… Typically bottled at 50%, a new cask is bottled each month.

Craigellachie 16 year Sherry Butt HL21170 50% (Hunter Laing – Old Malt Cask) 

  • Nose – Vanilla, sweet like milky mathai, a hint of dried fruits 
  • Palate – Starts soft then builds up, chocolate-covered ginger spice, sherry
  • Finish – Surprisingly hot finish, even a bit salty at the close

Not bad but also not outstanding. However, I will admit I’m not always a big Craigellachie fan, so it wasn’t surprising that I was a bit middling about this one.

Ardmore 12 year (July 2010) Refill Barrel HL21172 50% (Hunter Laing – Old Malt Cask) 

  • Nose – Now we are talking! Very sweet on the nose, honey, hibiscus, very bright, shifting into glazed ham with a citrus twist
  • Palate – Wonderfully well-rounded, fruit and peat in terrific balance
  • Finish – Subtle and lingers

This Ardmore was much more to my taste – quite enjoyable!

Glen Grant 25 year (1998 / 2023) 50% (Hunter Laing – Old Malt Cask) 

  • Nose – A classic nose – honey, subtle floral, followed by a citrus tang… we immediately dubbed this a “sniffing” whisky – the kind you just want to come back to again and again to take a whiff
  • Palate – Lovely! We found it best to just leave on your tongue for a bit – it was sweet yet with just enough spice to not be a push-over.
  • Finish – Long and lingering – just right! With a nice oily lemon close

They say it is good to leave the best to last so it can be fully appreciated. I think the folks at Hunter Laing delivered here! Elegant and beautiful – this was a clear class act.

Confession time – I did indeed leave this in the glass for as long as I could to enjoy the aromas. It kept shifting between honey, floral, and citrus most delightfully.

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Whisky Show 2024 – Decadent Drinks

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London’s Whisky Show brought many delights. One was time spent at Decadent Drinks – the folks behind the irreverent Whisky Sponge – which has “retired” as a brand! We didn’t quite get through the full range – yet we definitely covered a gamut from light to heavy moderately aged to mature!

Glen Garioch 21 year (2003 / 2024) 1st fill bourbon hogshead 55.1% 1 of 248 bottles (Decadent Drinks)

Our explorations began in the highlands… 

  • Nose – Fruity, juicy, then shifts into hazelnut chocolate nougat
  • Palate – Lovely fruits n spice n everything nice! Waxy, with a roll around the palate kinda substance
  • Finish – Almost a hint of copper 

What a wonderful way to begin with fruity fabulousness. Yum!

Aberlour 33 year (1989 + 1991 / 1999) Ed No 29, Refill Hogsheads 49.7% (Whisky Sponge) GBP 365

  • Nose – Gorgeous sherry! Unlike some heavy sherry drams – this was not “in your face” – instead just beautiful dark fruits
  • Palate – More elegant and refined than your typical Abelour, lovely balance
  • Finish – Sweet and long

A proper “grown-up” whisky! Sometimes Aberlour with its devotion to full-on sherry can be a bit much – this was incredibly nuanced and complex. Just wow!

Glen Grant 31 years (1993 / 2024) 52.7% 129 bottles (Decadent Drinks – Whisky Land Chapter 3)  GBP 595

  • Nose – Surprisingly strong – rich fruits and how!
  • Palate – What fun! Prickly ginger spice, buttercream
  • Finish – Sponge cake

If the Glen Grant 12 year old from the 1970s was elegance and refinement, this was the crazy cousin showing very different colours!

Notable Age Statements Blend 17 year 53% (Decadent Drinks) GBP 95

As a play on NAS – No Age Statement – the folks at Decadent Drinks have a series of Notable Age Statement whiskies!

  • Nose – Classically elegant
  • Palate – So balanced, sherry berry 
  • Finish – Don’t laugh – but my tasting companion dubbed this quite a “bitchy” finish!

What more do we know? This is what the folks at Decadent Drinks have to say:

This bottling is composed of a 1st fill sherry butt of 2001 blended malt and a 1st fill sherry butt of 2006 Aultmore. The resulting, multi-vintage mix was bottled with slight reduction at 53%.

This is our attempt to create an older style, sherry matured malt whisky profile. Designed to be easy, fruity and highly drinkable with plenty of classical, earthy and elegant sherry character.

Ardnamurchin 7 year Ed No 100 57.9% (Whisky Sponge – final edition)
  • Nose – Sherry joined by glazed maple with a hint of peat
  • Palate – Sweet and a bit sharp – young and brash, then it settled down to become super fruity and juicy, stewed fruits
  • Finish – Quite active
This was a whisky of contrasts – active and sharp then balanced, vacillating in between quite different characters. It was almost as though it had a kind of identity crisis!
 
It all made sense when I looked up more details. Here is what they had to say: 

This is Whisky Sponge Edition No.100. It’s a 2016 and 2017, 7 year old Ardnamurchan small batch.  It’s a potion that Angus cooked up in collaboration with the good folk at Ardnamurchan Distillery. It’s a mix of 1st fill and 2nd fill, peated and unpeated sherry octaves. We mixed them all together and married them in a refill sherry butt for over six months until the whole potion turned 7 years old, then we bottled it with slight reduction at 57.1%. For those of you that deify transparency, here’s the recipe…  

  • 2017 – Unpeated 1st Fill Sherry, Peated 1st Fill sherry, Peated 1st Fill Sherry, Peated Refill Sherry 
  • 2016  – Unpeated Refill sherry, Unpeated Refill Sherry, Unpeated Refill Sherry, Unpeated 1st Fill Sherry 

We wanted to celebrate and mark the final edition of Whisky Sponge with a whisky that was excellent quality, one that was collaborative and that we’d had a role in creating and making unique to us, and that was modern in the best sense and looked to the future. We feel we have succeeded in this – we hope you agree.  

It was quite an interesting experience!

Ledaig 29 year (1995/2024) 52% (Decadent Drinks – Westie Sponge 4)

  • Nose – Coffee, cinnamon, sweet spices, cakey
  • Palate – “I’m here now!” Big, bold, brilliant flavours! Sherry and coffee, cherry, chewy… lightly peated
  • Finish – Long and strong

Westie Sponge is a series devoted to the Western Highlands and Islands – which naturally needed to include this Ledaig from Tobermory distillery from Isle of Mull. 

Bowmore 20 year (2004) 53.3% 171 Bottles (Decadent Drinks – Whiskyland Chapter Two)

  • Nose – Fresh and bright, a delightful sea breeze, perfume then dark fruits, lush
  • Palate – Sweet peat, fruity in perfect harmony, elegant and well-rounded
  • Finish – Lingers

What more do we know? It is a refill hogshead from 2004. In some ways it was an un-Bowmore-like Bowmore – less forceful and more restrained. Lovely.

Ardmore 22 year (1997 + 2000) 53% (Decadent Drinks – Whisky Sponge – Equilibrium 3rd Edition) GBP 215

  • Nose – Love it! Peat and sweet
  • Palate – Perfect balance of peat and sherry, unctuous mouthfeel, meaty yet soft too
  • Finish – Marshmallows and cherry

The deep ruby hues (without any added colour!) means there has been some serious contact with an ex sherry cask! Here’s what else they have to say:

For this final bottling in the Equilibrium series, we took a refill matured 1997 and sherry finished 2000, medium peated highland malt and married them together in a 2nd fill sherry hogshead. That mix was then bottled as this 22 year old with a few degrees reduction at 53%. 

The result is the softest of the three Equilibrium bottlings in terms of peat level, and probably the richest in terms of sherry character. But overall, this is a wonderful, complex and beautifully quaffable sherry and peat influenced dram, one where age and time have also worked some pretty delicious tricks…  

Mortlach 16 year (2007) 48.5% (Decadent Drinks – Equinox & Solstice Summer Edition)

  • Nose – How extraordinary? There was a distinctive chaat masala aroma of black salt! Tangy, tropical fruits
  • Palate – Sherry edge, no lightweight at all. Oily, big and bold. Fruity and full. More of that chaat masala too!
  • Finish – Coffee

It was muscular without being heavy-handed. 

Miltonduff 11 year (2012)  1st Fill Sherry Hogshead 48.5% (Decadent Drinks – Equinox & Solstice Winter Edition) GBP 110

  • Nose – Rich yet not overpowering, juicy fruits then shifts into a mocha sundae, creamy eggnog 
  • Palate – Think of a delicious black forest cake with dark cherries, yet restrained too
  • Finish – Beautiful

A clear Speyside hero in its best form. 

Thank you Elise from Fredericton New Brunswick for making our time with Decadent Drinks so rewarding!

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Whisky Show 2024 – Dream Drams Brora + Glen Grant

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At London’s Whisky Show, one receives a “dream dram” token each day. This is an opportunity to try something well outside the normal “affordability” range!

I was very clear about my choice – as the crowd around Whisky Auction can be thick – the plan was to go there 1st thing. Or more precisely, immediately after our calibration dram of the day – the reliable and most enjoyable Glenfarclas 15 year!

I had my eye on a Glen Grant from the 1970s whereas my tasting companion was after something extra special and fancied the Brora 1981. As his choice was 2 tokens and we had only 2 tokens, we decided to go with his choice. The gent had overheard our debate and made an offer we couldn’t refuse – both!

Brora 23 year (1981 / 2005) First Cask 1556 43% Bottle 756 ~GBP 625

  • Nose – Shy at first then hay
  • Palate – A bit more substance, a hint of spice, sweet, subtle digestive biscuits
  • Finish – Pleasant

Overall I found it pleasant but nothing particularly special. My tasting companion was completely disappointed – felt the hype and the price tag were simply not worth it!

We need to remind ourselves that we are sampling a slice of history – a distillery that had its moment in time before being mothballed. Once known as Clynelish, the style we reputed to be quite different – for some time quite heavily peated then a lighter peat. In this case, to be honest we didn’t catch any peat!

So what about my choice? If the Brora was a bit of a bust, the Glen Grant was a complete hit! 

Glen Grant 12 year (1970s) 43%

  • Nose – Ahhhh….. An absolute delight! Bright and cheerful character, joined by some dark dried fruits topped with honey sweetness… after some time I found a lovely lemon custard pie. Delicious!!
  • Palate – Smooth and soft, then woke-up with pronounced sherry, yet still balanced
  • Finish – Long, strong and lovely

It was the perfect breakfast dram – sweet, classic style. The kind of whisky that will be companionable, joining you on a nice rambling journey. I was entranced and in love!

What followed? We neatly stepped next door to Whisky Sponge. Much like Whisky Auction, every time I passed by the previous day, the throngs were so thick I feared it would be impossible to have the kind of leisurely chatty experience we enjoy. How fabulous to be proved wrong!

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Calibration Dram – Glen Grant “The Major’s Reserve” 40%

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During our inaugural Nurnberg Whisky tasting group evening, my co-conspirator in setting up the event brought along his “Calibration” whisky… It was an easy-drinking dram that he consistently starts with – a brilliant idea!

The beauty of this approach is to be able to discern immediately whether one is truly in the mood for a tasting. If something that normally is appealing and amiable doesn’t suit you – chances are it isn’t the whisky, it’s you! As let’s face it, every night is NOT whisky time! 🙂

By easing the palate into each tasting in a consistent way – with a straightforward accessible dram – he’s already tuned in to aromas. And with a low alcohol count (only 40%), one’s palate adjusts to spirits, ready to interpret flavours beyond the initial hit of alcohol. Genius.

So what did he bring?

Glen Grant “The Major’s Reserve” 40% 

  • Nose – Honey, fruit – mostly apples and pears – then also a nuttiness, shortbread, vanilla cream, hint of tobacco leaf, a lovely floral perfume
  • Palate – Gentle spice, creamy butterscotch, fruit, oak
  • Finish – Slightly bitter and astringent, tobacco and spice

Overall an affable, accessible, and exceedingly affordable dram. In Germany, you can find it for only Eur 18!

I was lucky to have just a few drops remaining in the bottle to linger over with most of my tasting notes from that later revisit.

My previous experience with Glen Grant has been at more sociable gatherings where no tasting notes were taken or venerable drams like a 60 year old or 64-year-old. It was quite interesting to glimpse a significantly younger avatar – perhaps as little as just three years!

After our palate calibration dram, we continued with a quartet from Gordon & Macphail’s Discovery series.

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The remarkable Glen Grant 64 year (1949) 40%

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No… that is not a typo… that really is 64 years… as in matured for 64 years… with the new make spirit laid to rest in first fill sherry butts in 1949. A piece of whisky history with the clocks turned back.

And I had a chance to sample it completely blind… no clue what I was trying or how exceptionally rare such a dram is.

Glen Grant 64 year (24/11/1949 –  6/6/2014) Cask 2200 + 3185 40%

What did my wee sniff, swish and savour sampling reveal?

  • Nose – Old wood varnish, betel leaf, peach pit, drizzle  of maple syrup, ripe fruits, specifically then shifted into roasted pineapple and a bit of jackfruit, red wine tannins, a bit yeasty, those sweet and sour, tart and tangy Chinese (Li Hing Mui) or Japanese (Umeboshi) dried plums, a hint of old leather
  • Palate – What have I discovered? A bit bitter with elements rarely found like hing, then shifts into raw mango powder or unripe guava, some tamarind, like bhel puri masala, yet no spicy “pepper” heat, continued that sweet element with substance yet truly tangy too, remarkable
  • Finish – After a simply marvellous nose, interesting palate, the finish was surprisingly light… closing with a puff of smoke

Overall it was a mystery – delicate and unique. Surprisingly tangy yet sweet too. Complex yet not heavy. Clearly old yet had fresh elements also. a kaleidoscope of contradictions… that somehow worked together in weird and wonderful ways.

I kept aside just a few drops to revisit after some time and was rewarded with an exceptional bouquet of fruits, flowers then pine.

The last drop drained, I again set the empty glass aside… and returned an hour later to discover the most glorious perfume! Simply wafting out from the glass. Beautiful.

When we learned this was matured in a 1st fill sherry butt, it was such a surprise. The colour was so light whereas previous brushes with older sherry drams were deep and dark – like the Glendronach 39 – 42 year.

It also is a complete marvel that after 64 years it could still achieve the min 40% required for it to be called a whisky!

This certainly goes into the category of “once in a lifetime” and I also have to appreciate the work the Gordon + MacPhail team are doing preserving then releasing rare examples of whisky history to the world.

Here is what the folks over at Gordon & MacPhail have to say:

Without water:

  • Nose – Delicate Sherry aromas mingle with vanilla, rose water, and violet notes. Hints of burnt sugar, prune, and a lingering marzipan edge develops.
  • Palate – White pepper initially with grapefruit and hints of apricot preserve. Ground coffee and toasted almond flavours are complemented by underlying cigar ash.
  • Finish – Long, floral, and smoky.

With water:

  • Nose – Tropical fruits with pineapple and mango aromas. Subtle beeswax polish notes combine with bonfire embers and an orange zest edge.
  • Palate – Ripe banana, raisin, and fresh grapefruit flavours with a delicate hint of violets complemented by a lingering smoky edge.

Other rare vintages sampled over the years:

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A 60 year old whisky?! Yes please! Glen Grant 60 year (1950-2010) 40%

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Mature whiskies are rare and beyond the means of most whisky imbibers.

Thanks to a few events, generous fellow malt explorers, I’ve had the pleasure of sampling a couple of older drams – Glendronach, Glenfarclas and Auchentoshan come to mind. Yet none crossed the 50 year mark, let alone touched 60 years…

Until a fine evening of malting with Malt Maniac Krishna Nakula who started our evening off with this beauty from Glen Grant.

And best yet – my sample began completely blind so I had no idea what I was experiencing…

Glen Grant 60 year (14 Oct 1950 – 22 Nov 2010), Cask Strength No 2750, 2760 40%

  • Nose – Musty, like a granary with my being transported to the Manitoba farms of my youth, cereals, then shifts more into the old, polished wood of antique furniture, followed by a light sweet honey, a delicate perfume, flowers, fruits, cream, the slightest hint of bitter mocha, as it kept airing with a just drop remaining, a delightful piquant aroma emerged
  • Palate – Rubber, smoky, more of that antique wood, coffee, very elegant and nuanced, exceedingly easy on the palate, great mouthfeel
  • Finish – Such staying power! Yet delicate with a light clove spice

Slow, complex with a hint of smoke without a pinch of peat. The more you sip, the more you marvel. Very sophisticated. This was one that if you had a full dram, it could last hours… sit, savour and let it continue to speak to you, revealing different elements along the way.

The two casks were both ex-sherry – one first fill and the other re-fill. While we do not know the balance between the two, given its nuanced character, the re-fill may have had more play.

We spoke of the contrasting character of sherry matured whiskies – with the younger Kavalan’s on one end of the spectrum with its intense very berry sherry character to the Glendronach grand dames matured for 39 – 42 years in Pedro Ximénez Sherry puncheons dripping in rum-soaked Christmas cake with dry fruits and nuts.

Whereas this Glen Grant was much more gentile, with a fresh ripe fruitiness not dried dates or prunes, light honey drizzle not rich dark maple syrup… a quite fabulous balance of subtle elements in perfect harmony.

Apparently this is a Gordon & MacPhail bottling can be found for £3,500 through Whisky.online. Here’s what they have to  say:

A 1950 Glen Grant bottled in 2010 at 60 years of age. There is no other company in the world that still holds stocks of whisky like this, another super aged masterpiece by Gordon & MacPhail. Glen Grant is a spirit that ages beautifully, this is a beguiling mix of antique wood aromas, simmering spice, all kinds of layered fruit complexity and utterly perfect balance. A truly beautiful, utterly classy whisky that captures just how beautiful the really old whiskies can be, mesmeric stuff.

And yes, for once, words like “beguiling”, “layered fruit complexity”, “classy” and “mesmeric” really do apply…

What else did we sample in our Krishna Collection from July 2017?

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