Origin: Speyside (Scozia)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 40%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: Yes
Added coloring: Yes
Owner: Campari Group
Average price: € 13.00
Official website: www.glengrant.com
Vote: 64/100
A promise is a promise, and after talking about the 20-year-old proposed by Cadenhead’s, here I am dealing with one of the basic whiskies par excellence, for a long time (and perhaps still today) the most sold in Italy: the Glen Grant 5yo.
This success is certainly due to the hammering advertising campaign of the 1980s, which left its mark on those of my generation, carving the distillery’s name into the alcoholic imagination of many.
Founded in 1840 by the Grant brothers, who decided to go legit after years dedicated to illicit production, the distillery lost its founders just thirty years later, but found a worthy successor in the young heir James Grant.
Nicknamed ‘The Major’, James had a reputation as a great experimenter and innovator, both in life (he was the first to own a car in the Highlands) and in his work: Glen Grant was the first distillery to use electricity and taller, slimmer stills and purifiers.
When he died, he was succeeded by his grandson Douglas MacKessack who, from 1931, continued to run an already very successful distillery. In 1972 the distillery merged with Glenlivet, Hill, Thomson and Co. Ltd and Longmorn Distilleries Ltd, until the present day when ownership passed into the Italian hands of Campari in 2006.
The basic portfolio includes four different vintages: 10yo, 12yo, 18yo and this 5yo. There are also as many limited editions, namely The 1992 Cellar Reserve, 170th Anniversary, 50yo and the V Decades.
Tasting notes
The nose reveals all its youth, with lots of malt and cereal accompanying green apple, honey and a hint of almond, with a marked herbaceous profile. Slight hint of lemon. Simple, fresh, linear.
On the palate, the malt triumphs, rolling happily in a sheaf of cut grass, putting the green apple in the corner in preference to the almonds which are much more present here, with a distant touch of vanilla and nutmeg. The alcohol introduces itself far too boldly for its 40 degrees, disrupting a profile that is otherwise too calm but still superficial. In the long run, the aromas flatten out into a very, very immature blend of malt and alcohol.
The finish is short, ethereal, dry, of cereals, dried fruit, green apple and alcohol.
For such a derisory price it would be absurd to expect layering and complexity, it’s a whisky that delivers what the inattentive drinker expects: simple, delicate flavours and alcoholic bang for the buck.
A job well done.
Reviews of Glen Grant whisky in the blog:
Cadenhead’s Glen Grant-Glenlivet 20yo
Glen Grant 10yo
Glen Grant 12yo
Wilson & Morgan Glen Grant 25yo
Other perspectives:
Whisky for everyone