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| Hello, that is one in all our (virtually) day by day tastings. Santé! |
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December 31, 2024
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Wrapping up 2024
with a few Glen Grant
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Worry not, we’ll all the time keep on with our easy, descriptive, and anti-clickbait headlines. To be sincere, we are able to’t fairly stand those utilized by a number of the moderately humorous – and fascinating – new people on YouTube, alongside the strains of “Is This Actually the Greatest Glen Grant within the World??? Click on Now to Discover Out How This Bottle Almost Poisoned Me!!!”
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Proper, to recuperate we’re quickly going to have an excellent vertical tasting of Glen Grant, together with many official bottlings from the period when the distillery was on the very prime of its sport, earlier than regularly changing into just a bit extra bizarre. For now, we needed to take pleasure in two or three latest high-quality impartial bottlings (or perhaps 4) earlier than this unusual 12 months ends.
French journal advert for Glen Grant, early Nineties, ‘A color of Scotland that stands out from the herd.’ Proper. Glen Grant additionally showcased ‘A lighter color, a purer style.’ In these occasions of No/Low drinks, this sort of argument may nicely make a comeback.
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Glen Grant 14 yo 2009/2024 (56.9%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Selection, Kirsch Import Germany, refill sherry hogshead, cask #900927, 269 bottles) 
Color: gentle gold. Nostril: loads of nougat, acacia honey, Earl Gray tea and brioche dough, adopted by just a few walnut skins and a contact of pine resin. A playful trace of one thing barely lactic, like vanilla custard. With water: tomato leaves, ferns, carrot tops, and baker’s yeast… This child appears moderately untameable. Mouth (neat): good, highly effective, barely candy, then more and more bitter and natural, with cherry stems, thyme infusion, inexperienced pepper, and cardamom… It clearly cries out for water, now Glen Grant usually swims like a champion. With water: a lot, a lot better now, that includes orange pastilles, dried raisins, cloves, and a contact of ras-el-hanout. End: moderately lengthy, leaning as soon as extra in direction of infusions and teas, however all is nicely. A barely extra chocolatey aftertaste. Feedback: this stressed child is a bit all over, which is kind of entertaining. With persistence and water, you’ll tame it.
SGP:561 – 85 factors. |
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Glen Grant 21 yo 2003/2024 (53.3%, Royal Mile Whiskies, sherry hogshead, cask #59894, 181 bottles) 
RMW have had some fab whiskies this 12 months – ooh that Springbank. One wouldn’t anticipate this GG to be of the identical calibre, however you by no means know. Color: gentle gold. Nostril: wait, what’s this? We discover right here that very explicit mineral fashion harking back to the ‘pale’ Glen Grants distilled within the Fifties! I swear! Plus, marrow, stearin, cement mud, and paraffin oil… Might somebody clarify this? With water: mosses, ferns, and fig leaves, even a bit tar and clear mud. So deliciously old-school, let’s say Harry Lauder-esque. Nearly. Mouth (neat): a contact of ‘high quality’ retsina at first, loads of inexperienced pepper and yellow capsicum, pine sap, then a touch of pad Thai and a chalky, virtually metallic edge, rounded out with apples and lime. Very curious to see what water will do to it. With water: growth, the whole lot folds into place—lemon, mint, inexperienced olives, candied angelica. Glorious. End: lengthy and rather more compact and cleaner. Juicy Fruit Gum. Feedback: what an journey. Its solely flaw is that it’ll demand time. Certainly, each time.
SGP:561 – 88 factors. |
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Glen Grant 20 yo 2003/2024 ‘100°proof’ (57.1%, Whisky Sponge, Decadent Drinks, #98, 1st fill barrel, 169 bottles)
The label right here displays the love – and rightly so – that ex-Mr Sponge holds for previous Glen Grant bottlings. Color: gentle previous. Nostril: ah sure, rapeseed and sunflower oils, bruised apples, previous copper objects (not essentially a copper canine), contemporary concrete, and half-burnt church candles—spot on. With water: yeasty notes emerge, with hints of toasted bread and bottled lemon juice. Mouth (neat): considerably brisker and extra citrusy than the RMW, although sure facets really feel related (citrus, sap). Like biting right into a scented orange candle sprinkled with pink pepper, or one thing alongside these strains. With water: oh, yellow peaches and apricots! That’s unbeatable in line with our personal dogma. End: lengthy, fruity but elegant, with a sure restraint. I do know, that doesn’t imply a lot. A contact of pine sap lingers within the aftertaste, including a slight bitterness. Feedback: flirting with 90 factors. Let’s name it 89.49, although we all the time spherical to the closest entire quantity.
SGP:651 – 89 factors. |
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Glen Grant 20 yo 2003/2024 (58.9%, Single Cask Nation, 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask #192741, 165 bottles)
Color: white wine. Nostril: it will appear these 2003s are moderately explosive, and right here we have now a fair livelier model, with only a contact of contemporary butter alongside inexperienced, white, yellow, and pink apples in all their kinds, together with tarte tatin. Pretty rooty touches—celery, radish, beetroot… With water: and right here come the chalk and paraffin! Mouth (neat): virtually a carbon copy of the Sponge, however greener, virtually acidic. Love this, as they generally say, it enables you to rely your vertebrae because it goes down, making certain the whole lot’s in place. The worst half is we actually like it. Nice pressure! With water: the fruits come bursting out—inexperienced melon, white peaches, inexperienced bananas, and naturally, apples of each sort. End: lengthy and taut, but additionally with just a few unique fruits—ardour fruit and lime. Feedback: these gifted independents actually do a superb job with their picks.
SGP:561 – 88 factors. |
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Glen Grant 25 yo 1998/2023 (50%, Hunter Laing, twenty fifth Anniversary of the Previous Malt Casks, refill barrel)
These replica-style bottles haven’t been round for very lengthy. Actually, it’s not very sort—do they even realise the impact this distinctive livery has on us each time we see it? It brings to thoughts Ardbeg 1975 ‘702’ or ‘Brorageddon’; watch out for coronary heart palpitations! Color: pale gold. Nostril: oh, vegetable oils, pollens, and ripe apples. It’s hyper-precise and easily excellent—you don’t want something extra. With water: nothing extra, and that’s completely positive. Maybe a faint contact of paint. Mouth (neat): easy but glorious. Ripe apples, ripe pears, a touch of soppy paprika, comfortable honey, and chamomile. With water: completely ‘Western’ fruits—orchard fruits, for instance greengages, whose close to disappearance from our native markets stays a terrific disgrace. End: superbly lengthy, with related notes and only a trace of wax. Feedback: a powerful Glen Grant, ‘regular’ with the whole lot that’s most pleasing about normality (that’s not very woke, S.).
SGP:551 – 87 factors. |
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Evidently, we hadn’t deliberate on tasting fairly so many. However since we’re at it, and as that is the final whisky tasting of 2024, let’s wrap up this little session with one of many ‘fathers’ of recent impartial bottling, for those who don’t thoughts…
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Glen Grant 21 yo 1963/1984 (46%, Samaroli, R.W. Duthie, sherry wooden, 480 bottles) 
The pleasant Silvano Samaroli defined, on the again label, that this Glen Grant was distilled earlier than the distillery expanded from 4 to six stills in 1973 and from 6 to 10 stills in 1977. Surprisingly, it appears they’ve 8 stills now—maybe they bought 2 to Macallan (simply joking!). In any case, even again then, Samaroli didn’t color his whiskies with caramel or chill-filter them, which could clarify this… Color: hazy pale gold, virtually opaque. Nostril: metallic polish, luxurious shoe polish, plasticine, and wheat beer dominate at first, earlier than being joined by rutabagas, parsnips, and different so-called ‘forgotten’ greens. Previous apples and lemon zest then brighten issues up. A beautiful metallic contact typical of previous Cadenhead’s, although please notice—this was no screw cap just like the ‘dumpies’. Mouth: straight right into a forest, with mosses, mushrooms, resins, and saps (birch, fir). The ever-present apples then take over in essentially the most lovely manner, accompanied by pollens and floral syrups (mullein). You do sense a tiny little bit of fatigue after 40 years in bottle, like an previous white wine of positive pedigree, however it by no means falters. End: medium to quick, with a sudden burst of small citrus fruits that convey the whole lot again into stability. How amusing! Bergamots dominate the aftertaste. Feedback: an enthralling fragility that reminds us whisky is a dwelling factor (what?). But some facets additionally recall these magnificent previous official bottlings we’ll be tasting in just a few weeks, as promised.
SGP:562 – 90 factors. |
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Serge’s Non-Awards
This is a short rundown of my prime picks from the roughly 1,400 whiskies and different spirits I sampled in 2024, persevering with our annual custom. Do not take it too critically; I discover these lists are sometimes extra of a routine train than something actually significant—until they’re sponsored, then they serve a advertising objective. However right here we go once more… |
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Port Ellen 44 yo 1978/2023 ‘Gemini Unique Cask’ (54.9%, OB, European oak butts, 274 bottles, 2024)
WF 95
Port Ellen, in fact, with its brand-new and, let’s consider, extremely aesthetic distillery. We may simply as simply have chosen the latest Brora 1977 ‘Untold Depths’, which we additionally scored 95/100, however Brora already gained in 2023, so… A 3rd and really critical contender for this title is the Glen Grant 1958 ‘Mr George Legacy Fourth Version’ from Gordon & MacPhail. Admittedly, all these bottles are horrendously costly—I’m nicely conscious of that—however at the very least their contents characterize the easiest Scotland has to supply for the time being. IMHO, as we used to say. |
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Bowmore 1955/1974 ‘For twelfth September 1974’ (unknown ABV, OB, 100 half jugs)
WF 96
We tasted this marvel as soon as once more, this time from a special decanter than these we had beforehand sampled, all in assist of our shared noble trigger. Relaxation assured, we gained’t elaborate additional—simply so as to add that one other Bowmore, the 1969/1978 for Fecchio & Frassa at G.L.58, got here very, very shut. |
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Favorite bang to your buck
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François Voyer ‘Temps Magique Lot 19.20’ (43.8%, Malternative Belgium, Grande Champagne, 2024)
WF 93
A fully unimaginable cognac from Malternative Belgium, which does a very exceptional job choosing previous cognacs. Even when it does irk us a bit to see our expensive Belgian associates considerably diverting these nice French spirits (simply teasing, in fact), it’s a superb reminder for us in France to take extra curiosity in what we produce! A number of different cognac homes additionally rank very extremely—Vallein Tercinier, JL Pasquet, Famille Cabanne, Tiffon, and others. Actually, we had a Cabanne that scored 94, however it was bottled in 2023. |
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The Nikka ‘9 Many years’ (48%, OB, ninetieth Anniversary Restricted, premium blended whisky, 2024)
WF 92
I really feel that 2024 has marked the triumphant return of Japanese whiskies, following a number of years considerably marred by overpriced NAS malts and so-called Japanese whiskies sourced overseas and merely bottled within the Land of the Rising Solar. We’ve tasted some distinctive Yamazaki and Hakushu, for instance—to not point out the intergalactic Chichibus ex-bourbons, Mars, and these spectacular new malts like Shizuoka that proceed to amaze us. All of this leads us to focus on a… mix—however not simply any mix. This Nikka was merely gorgeous! |
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Barcelo ‘Gran Anejo’ (37.5%, OB, Dominican Republic, +/-2023)
WF 25
Folks usually make enjoyable of rums boosted with sugar (now labelled as spirit drinks in Europe), however at the very least these have some flavour (terrible, however flavour nonetheless). In distinction, this poor little Barceló, regardless of being carbon-neutral, felt emptier than a jeroboam of Bollinger after a New 12 months’s Eve celebration. One other contender is El Ron Prohibido 15 yo ‘Gran Reserva’ from Mexico, which actually ought to stay ‘prohibido’ (WF 25). Then there are these whiskies sourced from inconceivable nations and bought at rock-bottom costs in supermarkets, masquerading as Scotch. Yuk. |
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Proper tomorrow we’ll attempt to publish a whole listing of all of the 100 and thirty-three 92 factors + we have tasted in 2024, Angus and myself, presumably with feedback if Bollinger’s Jeroboam permits us,
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