Glen Grant's twenty-one-year-old expressions have always been scarce creatures, released in limited quantities when stock permits. Bottled at 46% and without chill filtration, this older twenty-one carries more weight on the tongue than the standard 18, but its lineage — tall stills, purifiers, predominantly ex-bourbon wood — is unmistakable.
The nose opens on beeswax and dried apricot, adds vanilla and a whisper of pipe tobacco, and finishes with a light oak polish. The palate is honeyed and waxy, carrying baked orchard fruit, toasted almond and oak spice, with a faint leather note that only appears in older Glen Grants. At 46% there is no need for water, though a few drops coax out a little more cereal sweetness.
The finish is long and warming, drying gently and leaving a waxy fruit echo behind. This is a quieter whisky than its age or strength might suggest. Rothes malts have never been muscular, and Glen Grant in particular has always been made to reveal itself over time rather than to impress in a single sip.
Major James Grant, who ran the distillery until 1931 and who built the famous Dram Hut in his walled garden, would recognise the restraint. So too would Dennis Malcolm, whose decades at Glen Grant have kept that restraint intact through every change of ownership from Seagram to Chivas to Campari.
