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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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December 31, 2024 |
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Wrapping up 2024
with a few Glen Grant |
Fear not, we’ll always stick with our straightforward, descriptive, and anti-clickbait headlines. To be honest, we can’t quite stand the ones used by some of the rather funny - and engaging - new folks on YouTube, along the lines of “Is This Really the Best Glen Grant in the World??? Click Now to Find Out How This Bottle Nearly Poisoned Me!!!” |
Right, to recover we’re soon going to have a superb vertical tasting of Glen Grant, including many official bottlings from the era when the distillery was at the very top of its game, before gradually becoming just a little more ordinary. For now, we wanted to enjoy two or three recent high-quality independent bottlings (or maybe four) before this strange year ends.
French magazine advert for Glen Grant, early 1990s, 'A colour of Scotland that stands out from the herd.' Right. Glen Grant also showcased 'A lighter colour, a purer taste.' In these times of No/Low drinks, this kind of argument could well make a comeback. |
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Glen Grant 14 yo 2009/2024 (56.9%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice, Kirsch Import Germany, refill sherry hogshead, cask #900927, 269 bottles) 
Colour: light gold. Nose: plenty of nougat, acacia honey, Earl Grey tea and brioche dough, followed by a few walnut skins and a touch of pine resin. A playful hint of something slightly lactic, like vanilla custard. With water: tomato leaves, ferns, carrot tops, and baker’s yeast… This baby seems rather untameable. Mouth (neat): good, powerful, slightly sweet, then increasingly bitter and herbal, with cherry stems, thyme infusion, green pepper, and cardamom… It clearly cries out for water, now Glen Grant often swims like a champion. With water: much, much better now, featuring orange pastilles, dried raisins, cloves, and a touch of ras-el-hanout. Finish: rather long, leaning once more towards infusions and teas, but all is well. A slightly more chocolatey aftertaste. Comments: this restless baby is a bit all over the place, which is quite entertaining. With patience and water, you’ll tame it.
SGP:561 - 85 points. |
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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 year – ooh that Springbank. One wouldn’t expect this GG to be of the same calibre, but you never know. Colour: light gold. Nose: wait, what’s this? We find here that very particular mineral style reminiscent of the ‘pale’ Glen Grants distilled in the 1950s! I swear! Plus, marrow, stearin, cement dust, and paraffin oil… Could someone explain this? With water: mosses, ferns, and fig leaves, even a little tar and clean mud. So deliciously old-school, let’s say Harry Lauder-esque. Almost. Mouth (neat): a touch of ‘quality’ retsina at first, plenty of green pepper and yellow capsicum, pine sap, then a hint of pad Thai and a chalky, almost metallic edge, rounded out with apples and lime. Very curious to see what water will do to it. With water: boom, everything folds into place—lemon, mint, green olives, candied angelica. Excellent. Finish: long and much more compact and cleaner. Juicy Fruit Gum. Comments: what an adventure. Its only flaw is that it’ll demand time. Indeed, every time.
SGP:561 - 88 points. |
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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 here reflects the affection – and rightly so – that ex-Mr Sponge holds for old Glen Grant bottlings. Colour: light old. Nose: ah yes, rapeseed and sunflower oils, bruised apples, old copper objects (not necessarily a copper dog), fresh concrete, and half-burnt church candles—spot on. With water: yeasty notes emerge, with hints of toasted bread and bottled lemon juice. Mouth (neat): somewhat fresher and more citrusy than the RMW, though certain aspects feel similar (citrus, sap). Like biting into a scented orange candle sprinkled with pink pepper, or something along those lines. With water: oh, yellow peaches and apricots! That’s unbeatable according to our own dogma. Finish: long, fruity yet elegant, with a certain restraint. I know, that doesn’t mean much. A touch of pine sap lingers in the aftertaste, adding a slight bitterness. Comments: flirting with 90 points. Let’s call it 89.49, though we always round to the nearest whole number.
SGP:651 - 89 points. |
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Glen Grant 20 yo 2003/2024 (58.9%, Single Cask Nation, 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask #192741, 165 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: it would seem these 2003s are rather explosive, and here we have an even livelier version, with just a touch of fresh butter alongside green, white, yellow, and red apples in all their forms, including tarte tatin. Lovely rooty touches—celery, radish, beetroot… With water: and here come the chalk and paraffin! Mouth (neat): almost a carbon copy of the Sponge, but greener, almost acidic. Love this, as they sometimes say, it lets you count your vertebrae as it goes down, ensuring everything’s in place. The worst part is we really love it. Great tension! With water: the fruits come bursting out—green melon, white peaches, green bananas, and of course, apples of every kind. Finish: long and taut, but also with a few exotic fruits—passion fruit and lime. Comments: these talented independents really do an excellent job with their selections.
SGP:561 - 88 points. |
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Glen Grant 25 yo 1998/2023 (50%, Hunter Laing, 25th Anniversary of the Old Malt Casks, refill barrel)
These replica-style bottles haven’t been around for very long. In fact, it’s not very kind—do they even realise the effect this distinctive livery has on us every time we see it? It brings to mind Ardbeg 1975 ‘702’ or ‘Brorageddon’; beware of heart palpitations! Colour: pale gold. Nose: oh, vegetable oils, pollens, and ripe apples. It’s hyper-precise and simply perfect—you don’t need anything more. With water: nothing more, and that’s absolutely fine. Perhaps a faint touch of paint. Mouth (neat): simple yet excellent. Ripe apples, ripe pears, a hint of soft paprika, soft honey, and chamomile. With water: perfectly ‘Western’ fruits—orchard fruits, for example greengages, whose near disappearance from our local markets remains a great shame. Finish: beautifully long, with similar notes and just a hint of wax. Comments: a magnificent Glen Grant, ‘normal’ with everything that’s most enjoyable about normality (that’s not very woke, S.).
SGP:551 - 87 points. |
Needless to say, we hadn’t planned on tasting quite so many. But since we’re at it, and as this is the last whisky tasting of 2024, let’s wrap up this little session with one of the ‘fathers’ of modern independent bottling, if you don’t mind… |
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Glen Grant 21 yo 1963/1984 (46%, Samaroli, R.W. Duthie, sherry wood, 480 bottles) 
The delightful Silvano Samaroli explained, on the back label, that this Glen Grant was distilled before the distillery expanded from 4 to 6 stills in 1973 and from 6 to 10 stills in 1977. Strangely, it seems they have 8 stills now—perhaps they sold 2 to Macallan (just joking!). In any case, even back then, Samaroli didn’t colour his whiskies with caramel or chill-filter them, which might explain this… Colour: hazy pale gold, almost opaque. Nose: metal polish, luxury shoe polish, plasticine, and wheat beer dominate at first, before being joined by rutabagas, parsnips, and other so-called ‘forgotten’ vegetables. Old apples and lemon zest then brighten things up. A lovely metallic touch typical of old Cadenhead’s, though please note—this was no screw cap like the ‘dumpies’. Mouth: straight into a forest, with mosses, mushrooms, resins, and saps (birch, fir). The ever-present apples then take over in the most beautiful way, accompanied by pollens and floral syrups (mullein). You do sense a tiny bit of fatigue after 40 years in bottle, like an old white wine of fine pedigree, but it never falters. Finish: medium to short, with a sudden burst of small citrus fruits that bring everything back into balance. How amusing! Bergamots dominate the aftertaste. Comments: a charming fragility that reminds us whisky is a living thing (what?). Yet some aspects also recall those magnificent old official bottlings we’ll be tasting in a few weeks, as promised.
SGP:562 - 90 points. |
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Serge's Non-Awards
Here's a brief rundown of my top picks from the roughly 1,400 whiskies and other spirits I sampled in 2024, continuing our annual tradition. Don't take it too seriously; I find these lists are often more of a routine exercise than anything truly meaningful—unless they're sponsored, then they serve a marketing purpose. But here we go again... |
Favourite recent bottling |
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Port Ellen 44 yo 1978/2023 'Gemini Original Cask' (54.9%, OB, European oak butts, 274 bottles, 2024)
WF 95
Port Ellen, of course, with its brand-new and, shall we say, highly aesthetic distillery. We could just as easily have chosen the recent Brora 1977 ‘Untold Depths’, which we also scored 95/100, but Brora already won in 2023, so... A third and very serious contender for this title is the Glen Grant 1958 'Mr George Legacy Fourth Edition' from Gordon & MacPhail. Admittedly, all these bottles are horrendously expensive—I’m well aware of that—but at least their contents represent the very best Scotland has to offer at the moment. IMHO, as we used to say. |
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Bowmore 1955/1974 ‘For 12th September 1974’ (unknown ABV, OB, 100 half jugs)
WF 96
We tasted this marvel once again, this time from a different decanter than those we had previously sampled, all in support of our shared noble cause. Rest assured, we won’t elaborate further—just to add that another Bowmore, the 1969/1978 for Fecchio & Frassa at G.L.58, came very, very close. |
Favourite bang for your buck |
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Ben Nevis 8 yo 2015/2024 (46%, James Eadie, Small Batch, The Rose & Crown, first fill bourbon hogshead, 1,301 bottles, 2024)
WF 88
We could also have chosen Springbank 10 or Ardbeg 10, as usual, which seem to be returning to very affordable price levels (Ardbeg 10 at €45 in supermarkets in France at the end of this year). However, we also wanted to highlight the high quality of these independent releases from James Eadie. This splendid young Ben Nevis is priced at €69—well worth it! Note that we very rarely talk about prices, but when it comes to BFYB, we can hardly avoid it, ha! |
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François Voyer ‘Temps Magique Lot 19.20’ (43.8%, Malternative Belgium, Grande Champagne, 2024)
WF 93
An absolutely incredible cognac from Malternative Belgium, which does a truly remarkable job selecting old cognacs. Even if it does irk us a little to see our dear Belgian friends somewhat diverting these great French spirits (just teasing, of course), it’s a good reminder for us in France to take more interest in what we produce! Several other cognac houses also rank very highly—Vallein Tercinier, JL Pasquet, Famille Cabanne, Tiffon, and others. In fact, we had a Cabanne that scored 94, but it was bottled in 2023. |
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The Nikka ‘Nine Decades’ (48%, OB, 90th Anniversary Limited, premium blended whisky, 2024)
WF 92
I feel that 2024 has marked the triumphant return of Japanese whiskies, following several years somewhat marred by overpriced NAS malts and so-called Japanese whiskies sourced abroad and merely bottled in the Land of the Rising Sun. We’ve tasted some exceptional Yamazaki and Hakushu, for example—not to mention the intergalactic Chichibus ex-bourbons, Mars, and these impressive new malts like Shizuoka that continue to amaze us. All of this leads us to highlight a… blend—but not just any blend. This Nikka was simply stunning! |
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Barcelo 'Gran Anejo' (37.5%, OB, Dominican Republic, +/-2023)
WF 25
People often make fun of rums boosted with sugar (now labelled as spirit drinks in Europe), but at least those have some flavour (awful, but flavour nonetheless). In contrast, this poor little Barceló, despite being carbon-neutral, felt emptier than a jeroboam of Bollinger after a New Year's Eve party. Another contender is El Ron Prohibido 15 yo 'Gran Reserva' from Mexico, which really ought to remain 'prohibido' (WF 25). Then there are those whiskies sourced from improbable countries and sold at rock-bottom prices in supermarkets, masquerading as Scotch. Yuk. |
Right tomorrow we'll try to publish a complete list of all the one hundred and thirty-three 92 points + we've tasted in 2024, Angus and myself, possibly with comments if Bollinger's Jeroboam allows us, |
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