Well-aged Glen Grant (at a very reasonable bottle price) from a 1992 refill ex-bourbon barrel. Sweet, Fruity & Mellow profile.
Nose: Quite floral, with honeysuckle, sunflowers and daisies. These garden-fresh notes are supported by lemon marmalade, ripe and unripe orchard and stone fruits (apples and peaches) and a savoury cerealness. In the background a quite unusual musty woodiness – akin to creosote, freshly toasted bread and pecans. The addition of water added a sense of creaminess with chocolate, as well as emphasising some underlying earthiness – wet soils and hay.
Taste: A lovely viscous and fruity arrival – apples, mangos and peaches – quite the fruit salad. Wood polish hints at the age of this whisky and sits alongside, digestive biscuits, cookie dough and choux buns. Reduced, there was a sense of fruit team infusions and further flavours of bakery – pastries, rolls and flans.
Finish: Medium in length and quite woody. It’s drying and slightly tannic – emphasising vanilla, earthiness and citrus.
This Glen Grant is a little hard to judge – the nose is quite reasonable, but a little unassuming, the finish rather oak-driven and drying. However the palate is quite lovely: straight-forward, but packed full of well-defined fruitiness and patisserie sweetness. Complexity was increased with the addition of water, making for a deeper and more expressive experience. Not an award-winner, but certainly competitively priced.