A Pair of 1972 Glen Grant


July 15, 2017

	Angus's Corner From our casual Scottish correspondent and guest taster Angus MacRaild
	A Pair of 1972 Glen Grant
	Who doesn't love 1972 Glen Grant, it's always nice to have an excuse to taste some. Like if it's a sunny day - or a rainy one. Or even if it's just daylight, or sometimes at night too. Or, in your case Serge, if there's an old episode of Inspector Derrick on TV...

Glen Grant 30 yo 1972/2002 (46%, Private bottling for The Angel Inn, sherry butt, cask #1965)

The Angel Inn is a pub in Yorkshire that was luck enough to have its own bottling of Glen Grant at one point. Never seen this one before so I suspect it remains quite rare. Also, interestingly, the label describes the cask as a 'sherried butt', make of that what you will... Colour: Deep gold. Nose: Pow! We've struck honey! Totally classical early 1970s Glen Grant, a whole beehive full of beeswax, pollen, honeysuckle, other wild flowers, some exotic hardwoods and various furniture oils and resins. Beautiful notes of freshly baked apple pie with butter, camphor, some raisins and perhaps a little eucalyptus and wormwood. Develops more fresh fruits with time, mostly green and garden varieties.

Mouth: Honey again, only this time with more waxes, wood oils, walnut skins, dried dark fruits, Guinness cake and some sunflower oil. Quite fat and spicy, plenty of bite from the wood but it's never overpowering, more it acts as a foil for the honey and fruit components very nicely. Notes of freshly brewed green tea, some citrus rind and orange bitters. Towards the end it gets kind of peppery as well. Finish: Long! Savoury brown bread with notes of various seeds and a scraping of honey and fresh butter. A lingering oiliness. Comments: Grade A, textbook 1972 Glen Grant. Not the most complex but total pleasure to drink and perfect integration between fruit and wood. SGP: 642 - 90 points.

Glen Grant 26 yo 1972/1999 (56.1%, Hart Brothers, rum wood) Apparently this one has had some ex-rum casks involved at some point, whether as a finish or a full maturation I'm not sure but it may be slightly more 'unlikely' than the previous one... Colour: Rosewood. Nose: This is indeed a different animal. More syrupy at first - although that can be the higher strength playing tricks - notes of treacle, tar and wood spice. There clearly is quite a bit of rum influence at play here, this nice mix of bandages and brown sugar is very 'rumesque'. However, there are still some more classical Glen Grant honey notes poking through and the integration overall feels quite nice. With a little breathing it becomes very spicy and peppery - green and black peppercorns. Notes of mineral oil, shoe polish, cured meats, old leather furniture.

There's some dense fruity notes coming as well now, fresh green fruits with more stodgy notes of raisins, dates and sultanas underneath. Perhaps even something tropical as well. With water: A dunder pit. Banana skins, ginger bread, wet earth. It's a tropical feel without any overly excessive tropical fruit aromas. Mouth: Big, juicy arrival. Surprisingly well balanced between the wood and fruit again. But the strength makes it a more syrupy and visceral kind of experience. More dark fruits, more notes of date and prune alongside dark chocolate, a little rancio, pipe tobacco, olive oil, more subtle tarry notes and a hit of molasses. If this is a finish it's been done with an extremely deft touch. Some big earthy, dunnage notes as well, camphor, resin, some waxy notes, stewed fruits. Maybe even a touch of Buckfast (I kid you not). With water: more chocolate and more earth with notes of back tea, berry fruits compote, more ginger bread and some light wood spice and gentle tannin. Finish: Long, slightly drying, spicy, more deft tannins, more chocolate and a some nice Demerara notes. Comments: Quite different from the Angel Inn bottling, but you can feel the distillery identity sloshing about underneath. I have to say, I'm not normally a fan of rum and whisky together but here the integration was pretty much spot on and made for a big and pretty uncompromising dram. Snap! SGP: 743 - 90 points.