Kategoriarkiv: Glen Grant

Glen Grant, Speyside

Glen Grant 12 YO (Travel Exclusive Version)

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ABV: 48 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a mild honey sweetness sitting in top of a fruitiness with apples and pears. As it sits in the glass there’s a top note of ethanol and baking spices slowly emerging. It feels quite dessert-like at this point. It’s rather fresh and lively. Notes of marzipan and coconut are also detectable. When the fruitiness spreads out it also reveals a floral note floating around on the center. This is a very nice nose. It’s not complex nor especially interesting to explore, but works well and has a pretty solid character.

Mouth: It starts out with a big honey sweetness with a malty center. There are notes of vanilla, marzipan and pears, but the fruitiness is toned down a bit from the start. There’s a nice spicyness and it has a nice amount of power coming from the ABV although the ethanol note on top is all too detectable. There’s some notes of age in there as well, but it still feels young and lively. There’s not much happening at this point in the journey. It pretty much stays the same throughout.

Finish: The fruitiness and the marzipan increase in intensity at the beginning of the transition. There’s a late increase in intensity as well. When it fades it almost immidiately moves towards the oakiness. There’s a thin dusty coating over some grey old oak planks. There are hazelnuts as well. This is a good whisky which feels a bit spirity and simple. The late oak finish salvages a lot though.

Additional information
This whisky is a travel retail exklusive version of the standard 12 YO. The cask types aren’t disclosed. It’s has higher ABV than the original and it’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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Glen Grant, Speyside

Glen Grant 10 YO

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a hefty amount of citrus notes with a vanilla and honey cover surrounding them. There’s also a maltiness coming through quite early. When it settles there are green apples as well as a minty overtone and the sweet surrounding layer grows a bit over time. It ends up being a nice sweet dessert. This is a very good nose. It feels quite balanced between the sweet and sour notes and albeit it’s not complex, it’s nice to nose and the shifts are logical.

Mouth: It starts out a bit too mild and slightly watery with a bit of sweetness at the start. There is a spicyness slowly arriving up front and the sweetness evolves into vanilla, malt, oak and honey after a while, which again feels quite logical. There’s a slight bitterness in the back and the citrus notes are still in there, but they are pushed back by the sweetness. The whole thing is a bit underwhelming and it lacks the nice balance which the nose offered.

Finish: The transition is quite uneventful and it still feels a bit bland. All the flavours carries over but nothing really stands out. After a while the minty layer starts to emerge, but the rest is just fading away in the background except for the oak and the bitter note. It’s a nice enough oakiness but there’s just not much to explore about it. This is a good whisky but it really lacks the nice flavours the nose offered. It’s an easy sipper and there’s no bad sides to it; It’s just a bit too mild and unpretentious.

Additional information
There’s not much information to be found on this whisky. It was presumably aged in ex-bourbon barrels for the full maturation period.

Glen Grant, Speyside

Glen Grant 12 YO

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ABV: 43 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a ripe red apple fruitiness together with a malty base and a coating of vanilla and honey. There’s also a fresher fruitiness surrounding the core. It’s very dessert-like and there are some baking spices floating around somewhere inside. It feels very homogenous and everything lies close to the core. With time a marzipan note start to emerge around the edges of the glass. This is a very pleasant nose. It isn’t complex but delivers the profile without flaws.

Mouth: It starts out with lemons and oranges on the edges and a rich malty core with vanilla, honey and red ripe apples in the center. It’s got a nice texture and feels ”larger” than on the nose. After a few seconds the outside fruitiness turns slightly bitter and creates an orange peel note. A hint of baking spices are in there as well and it still feels like a dessert, but it’s not too sweet.

Finish: The finish starts the same way as the mouth with a nice orange peel fruitiness exploding around the palate before the sweet honey and vanilla returns in the center. It’s less malty and more fruity and it stays that way all the way through. The only shift is when the oakiness start to come through, which is fashionably late. It’s a nice aged wood oakiness with a hint of mixed nuts. The fruitiness follows along all the way through. This is a great whisky. It’s not complex nor an explorer’s whisky, but as an easy sipper it’s a perfect background whisky.

Additional information
The cask type isn’t stated anywhere but the taste profile suggests ex-bourbon american white oak. There is another version of this whisky which is only sold in travel retail, but that one is unchillfiltered and the ABV is 48 %.

Glen Grant, Speyside

Glen Grant The Major’s Reserve

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is fruity and floral. At first there are unripe sour green apples and vanilla. There’s a thin maltiness coming from behind and an ethanol cloud on top. There’s a perfumey lemongrass aura surrounding everything and that’s what creates the floral notes. It almost smells like a scented soap. It gets sweeter and maltier with time and honey starts to show after a few minutes. It’s a nice enough nose but it’s not complex or especially interesting.

Mouth: It starts out with a surge of sweetness and then it turns very bitter with oak and malt as main flavours. It’s a bit unpleasant. There is a slight spiciness building up and the fruity and floral notes are still detectable, but the oak and the malt together with the bitterness beat them to the punch. The ethanol cloud is still circling around everything else. The vanilla and honey sweetness has taken a step back and it’s now just a part of the background.

Finish: It starts out where it left off without anything exiting happening in between. It’s still sweet, the ethanol cloud is still there and it’s still bitter from the oak. The maltiness is a bit toned down though. The fruitiness is still in the background and subsides fairly quick in the finish. All that is left in the mouth afterwards is an unpleasant oaky bitterness. This is not a bad whisky, there are just too many corners cut along the way.

Additional information
The Major’s Reserve is the entry level whisky in Glen Grant’s core range. There’s not much information about the content except that it’s aged in ex-bourbon barrels.