Tasting notes by Serge Valentin (WhiskyFun.com) 86/100

Not the first time I’m trying this one, but my previous notes were very rudimentary.

Colour: white wine.

Nose: lemon juice with touches of barley, hay, and metal polish, possibly from bottle ageing. I’d add limoncello, lemongrass, and well, all things lemony.

Mouth: it’s certainly got more fatness than contemporary Glen Grants, which are rather more innocuous, and obviously more lemons again. Once again this feeling of drier limoncello, blended with a little liquid wax and perhaps drops of brine, or oyster juice, which gives it an unexpected coastal side.

Finish: unexpectedly long and peaty/salty.

Comments: it’s well known that 1968 had been very dry on Islay, and that most distillery were consequently silent, which may have led several distilleries on the mainland to produce peaty batches for their blends. That’s why they had restarted Brora, for example. Did they do the same at Glen Grant? What’s sure is that this baby’s surprisingly good.

SGP:452 - 86 points.