Glen Grant
- OWNER: CAMPARI
- FOUNDED: 1839/1840
- REGION: SPEYSIDE
It’s no coincidence that the Italian drinks giant Campari bought Glen Grant in 2006—Glen Grant has long been among the best-selling single malts in Italy. The distillery, built by the Grant family and originally called Drumbain, has always been enormous; today it produces 5.9 million liters a year, far outpacing all but a few malt producers. Victorian-era demand was such that Glen Grant’s owners installed the region’s first pneumatic malting drums, a major time- and labor-saving device. It is a remarkably light and grassy whisky, the product in part of a unique set of “tall, slender stills,” as the label pointedly reminds you, as well as purifying chambers in the lyne arm, which push back reflux.
Glen Grant
Major’s Reserve
Formerly Glen Grant’s entry-level expression—it was recently discontinued—it’s named for James “the Major” Grant, the son of one of the founders and the man who took the distillery to worldwide fame in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
- PRICE $ · RATING
- AGE No age statement
- ALC/VOL 40%
- NOSE Honey, candied ginger, floral perfume, cream, mango, apples, and lemon; water adds lemon custard, white pepper, and apple skins.
- PALATE A thin-to-medium mouthfeel, with apples, honey, roses, dried papaya, green apple, grain, and light pepper; water intensifies the grain and honey notes. The finish dries a bit, and leaves a lingering bitter note.
- GENERAL Not as sweet as you think, but it’s still an archetypal light Speyside whisky. For the price, it’s hard to beat, and you could do a lot worse than a glass of this, with a small ice cube, on a hot summer day.
Aged 12 Years
Glen Grant’s entry-level age-statement expression.
- PRICE $ · RATING
- AGE 12 years old
- ALC/VOL 43%
- NOSE Nutty, salty, and buttery, with a tinge of pencil shavings; it’s floral, with sweet grass, Lemon Pledge, and vanilla pudding.
- PALATE Light-bodied, with a slightly bitter entry followed by a buildup of fruit candy, coconut, and waxy texture; water brings out more floral notes but turns it less sweet. The finish is short and dry, with the buttery, nutty spiciness from the nose returning.
- GENERAL A bit too restrained and ethereal to be a real beauty, but still an enjoyable, light dram.
Glen Grant
Aged 18 Years
An often-overlooked Speyside malt, this eighteen year old was named the second-best whisky in the world in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2017.
- PRICE $$ · RATING
- AGE 18 years old
- ALC/VOL 43%
- NOSE Apple eau de vie, caramel toffee, powdered sugar, Gummi Bears, fresh tobacco, and an ever-so-slight herbaceousness; it weakens with water.
- PALATE Thin-bodied, bright, and floral, with an intense oaky spice-box character; there’s jellied fruit and a little soap. Water tones down the soapy floral notes. The finish is long and tastes remarkably like Cel-Ray soda.
- GENERAL Disappointing; it’s well structured, but it misses many of the complexities of eighteen years in the barrel.