Angus's Corner
From our correspondent and
skilled taster Angus MacRaild in Scotland

Glen Grant 29 yo 1988/2018 (56.3%, Adelphi, cask #9165, sherry, 429 bottles)
Presumably from a butt with that outturn, yes, or a puncheon. Love Adelphi, love Ardnamurchan and most of all love the wonderful folk that work there. Colour: amber. Nose: stewed peaches, boozy Christmas cake with marzipan (I'm presently around 60% Christmas cake so I should know), plums, prunes in syrup and damson jam. Wonderful and uber classical profile that also displays some of Glen Grant's old school 'fullness'. With water: lovely hints of caraway, woodruff, dried mango and mineral oils. Sits between leafy, gamey, sooty and fruity - which I love! Mouth: excellent! Big, juicy and darkly fruity sherry that also manages to be very earthy and displays some richly gamey and aged pinot noir notes. Also lapsing souchong, bitter herbs and leaf mulch that goes towards damp tobacco in leather pouches as well. Big and rather powerful, but also superb! With water: becomes leaner, gamier, a tiny medicinal streak appearing and some big savoury and umami qualities emerging. There's also this wonderful mineral quality about the sherry that recalls flints, gun metal and putty. Finish: long, warming, peppery, some paprika, tea tree oil and more lovely sooty, bitter herbal and gamey notes. Comments: it's a big and gusts style of sherry which not all distillates take to too well, but Glen Grant seems to absorb these characteristics in its stride and with considerably sophistication. I like bottlings like this one because they are excellent reminders that Glen Grant still retained something of an older school weight about it well into the 1980s and there are many gems to be found from those vintages. 
SGP: 561 - 90 points. 

Glen Grant 10 yo (75 proof, OB for 'Navy Army and Airforce Institutes, short screw cap, early 1970s)
A bottling for the military industrial complex perhaps? Colour: deep gold. Nose: mulchy and slightly earthy, on a funny mix of golden syrup and metal polish. I suspect there may be a little OBE at play here. Beyond that some nicely waxy vibes, bouillon and dried exotic fruit pieces. Mouth: very good. Waxes, biscuity sweetness, crystallised ginger, medicinal herbs, wee sooty notes and some dark fruit jams. Much better than the nose suggested and probably a lot to do with those three extra degrees of bottling strength. Nicely leafy and earthy now, with some tobacco, lovage, treacle and salted caramel. Getting more orangey as well, with bitter marmalade and hints of coriander seed. I still find a little OBE but it's much more dialled down in the mix on the palate. Finish: medium, on aniseed, liquorice and treacle, with a slightly sappy edge and impressions of pine wood and fir liqueur. Comments: mostly excellent, although it does stray down a few Old Bottle Effect tangents at times. Still, overall I would say it's another delicious and quaffable old Glen Grant. 
SGP: 561 - 87 points. 

Glen Grant 12 yo (43%, OB, Armando Giovinetti import, -/+1970)
We tried a Giovinetti import by Moray Bonding Co back in 2021 and loved it (WF91), and also another 12yo at 75 proof by Moray Bonding co for the UK market, which was even better (WF92), so why not now this OB version of similar pedigree… Colour: pale amber. Nose: I'm sure I've written similar before, but this is really a single profile, a fusion of waxes, dried exotic fruits, tiny threads of medicine and peat smoke, and also a stunning honeyed note that all together sings 'Old Glen Grant!' in full throated harmony. Arguably simple in some respects, but just utterly gorgeous and dripping with sophistication and class. A feeling of effortlessness. Mouth: 43% seems to work so perfectly for these bottles. This has perfect attack, very lean, mineral, rather surprisingly lemony and bright, assertive waxiness, herbal teas sweetened with honey, crystallised citrus peels and dried mango. Gorgeous and almost verging on gulpable. Add to all that a little liquorice root, some beeswax, a leathery note and a splash of old yellow Chartreuse. Finish: long, leafy, mineral, waxy and full of many types of preserved fruit. Also still beautifully honeyed. Comments: Once again, and I'm sure I've written it many times, the key words are: class, sophistication and pleasure! This is why I'm into old style whiskies, this would have been a relatively simple, entry level bottling and yet almost all similar contemporary OB 12yo bottlings are dots in this one's rear view mirror by comparison. I think it's also worth noting that the difference between these old Glen Grants sealed with a cork, versus those with a screw cap, likely the 10yo we just had, seems to be quite pronounced after several decades. I've tried my fair share of these old OB Glen Grants by now and I would say cork is king. 
SGP: 652 - 91 points.

Glen Grant (70 proof, 'Supplied by Duke Street Vintners', circa 1950s)
There was an age statement at one point, but sadly the condition of the label means we've lost that info. Judging by the capsule, cork and glass though, I think this is comfortably bottled around 1950s. Colour: pale straw. Nose: incredible freshness and vibrant waxiness. A profile that is pure distillate and hugely charismatic, dominated by waxes, putty, herbs, eucalyptus and a highly pronounced mineral quality, reminiscent of some very old Clynelish in fact, I'm thinking specifically  of the old spring cap 12yo OB Clynelish. Many subtle aromas start to emerge with time, such as bike chain grease, dried mint, heather honey and some very classic camphor impressions. A wonderful nose. Mouth: hard to believe this would be only 40%, once again the character is dominated by these stunning waxy and honey components, also wee white stone fruits, more herbal notes such as herbal teas and herbal liqueurs (hello Chartreuse once again). It's also got a stunning vegetal side that strays into very specific umami notes like Maggi and bouillon. I still find even a little sweet malt extract and lemon barley water. Finish: rather long, and surprisingly warming with a growing peppery sense that suggest crushed rocket and watercress, then fennel seed and celery salt. More lovage and Maggi in the aftertaste and an ever-present waxiness too. Comments: even at 40%, the greatest and most impeccable distillates are indomitable it would seem. The purity and simple power of character in this one is profound and totally beautiful. Finally, it's also worth noting that I couldn't tell you at all what the age might have been, this profile reminds me of 5yo and 25yo Glen Grants from this production era, neither age statement would surprise me - another indication of an incredible distillate. 
SGP: 462 - 93 points. 

Glen Grant 8 yo (70 proof, Gordon Graham & Co Ltd, circa 1930s)
One of the oldest of these old Glen Grant labels that I've ever come across. It also, rather charmingly, tells us that Gordon Graham & Co were located at 31 and 33 Market Street. Colour: the palest of white wines, almost verging on new make. Nose: this really is new make that has been cleaned up in refill wood, in fact you could probably nose this and write an essay about how it is possible to 'tidy' up a spirit without technically 'maturing' it, if the wood is neutral enough. I seriously wonder if we'd have achieved a similar profile to this using amphora? Or glass demijohns? Ok, probably not. Anyway, this one also displays a stunning herbal quality, but these are really fresh herbs, crushed green herbs that include lemon thyme, chives, parsley and tarragon. It's also peppery, very subtly medicinal and displaying some background notes of liquorice. Also wax, a very prominent and clear waxiness, and an almost salty honey note alongside it. I find the freshness and the sharpness of this profile just amazing. Mouth: shares much with the Duke Street bottling, but this is even more 'ideological', in that it is profoundly about bitter herbal notes, crystallised honey and pure wax. Again, hard to imagine this is only 70 proof, but perhaps we need to adjust our preconceptions about such things with distillates from this era? Continues to become even fatter and more petrolic in the mouth, maybe adding some pristinely grassy and bitter olive oil, some chalk, some soot and more peppery and bitter herbal qualities. Finish: once again, surprisingly long despite the low bottling strength. Very honeyed, waxy and glowing with more mineral oils, a glimmer of white stone fruits once again and then just wax, wax, wax in the aftertaste. Comments: stunning, and rather humbling to taste. Simple in one sense, but the assertion, and clarity, of personality on display, particularly on the palate, is just hypnotic and completely remarkable. I would say that bottlings like this one are the perfect example of what I mean when I say whiskies such as this on possess 'soul' - they go beyond that which is simply 'technically' excellent and deliver something 'more' that is complicated and highly challenging to properly articulate. I know that saying 'whiskies with soul' sounds like marketing doublespeak, but I believe that when used sparingly and very specifically in relation to these sorts of historic distillates, it can have real meaning. Anyway, even on a technical level, this one is still flying very high, I had it on 92, but trying again side by side with the Duke Street Vintners bottling, I think they are of the same quality. 
SGP: 472 - 93 points.