A 1995 refill barrel and a 1997 refill hogshead. Their powers combined. And as a result you get 443 bottles at a cask strength of 49.8%. This one is still available to purchase - £175 from Decadent Drinks – or £140 if you take advantage of the spring sale that’s available as of writing.
Nose: Golden barley and green vines join underripe melon, banana peels and a bowl of peaches and cream. Crunchy sugars are mingled with crumbled Rich Tea biscuits whilst touches of grassiness develop. Water reveals doughy buns together with hillside flowers and reeds and a tot of old orange liqueur.
Taste: Nettle tea?! OK then. Then orange jellies, pink grapefruit segments and preserved limes. Golden cereals are sugar dusted before ferns and reeds give way to polished oak, black tea and powdered ginger. Reduction sours and bitters the composition quickly – turning it very steeped tea like and for my taste far too extractive and dry. Nevertheless, the fruit-forward quality is retained throughout.
Finish: Medium with ginger and cracked pepper leading fading fruit jelly sweetness.
Glen Grant is often a very safe bet – particularly at age. This bottling possesses all of the brightness and defined fruits I’d expect, but does come with cask still very much in toe. This is especially the case when taken down a few degrees. Good, but not nearly as winning as the previous Sponge Glen Grant for me.