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Friday, January 15, 2021

Glen Grant 17 year old 1995 Duncan Taylor Dimensions, cask 85122

(Glen Grant cluster homepage)

This is the most recently distilled Glen Grant in the whole group and the one that's most likely from the indirect steam still system being used today. Whiskybase lists 115 Glen Grants from 1992, 28 from 1993, 11 from 1994 and 133 from 1995, so perhaps the stills were replaced between 1993 and 1994?

The cluster's first two Glen Grants were quite different in style, though they shared some characteristics, like sharp citrus and minerals. I have no idea where this cask will fall.

The bottler, Duncan Taylor, is better known by older whisky geeks as having The Great Stash of Caperdonich. Today's whisky is, of course, not a 1972 Caperdonich, but I thought I'd add some sentences here to pad out the intro.

Distillery: Glen Grant
Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Ownership at time of distillation: Seagram's
Bottler: Duncan Taylor
Brand: Dimensions
Age: 17 years (May 1995 - August 2012)
Maturation: either a bourbon barrel or hogshead
Cask #: 85122
Outturn: 226
Alcohol by Volume: 55.2%
(from a bottle split)

The clean but bold nose leads with apple skins, wort, tarragon, oregano and simple sencha. After about 20 minutes of air, new notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, puff pastry and a hint of jasmine blossoms appear in the mid- to background. Things get interesting once the whisky is reduced to 46%abv. Something fermented and fruity appears, like a yeasty peche or framboise lambic. The sencha note gets fainter, while the puff pastry drifts towards profiteroles. A little bit of toasted new oak spice shows up, but it stays mellow and in the background

The palate is tart, sweet and zippy like lime candy and ginger candy. Apples and barley. Cinnamon syrup and cherry bancha. It remains sweet and cheerful once diluted to 46%abv, still zesty but with new subtle floral notes. Then some raw ginger, praline pecans and cherry bancha.

It finishes with brown ale, tart apples and a squeeze of lemon juice. More citrus zests and flower blossoms arrive once the whisky is diluted to 46%abv.

Though the oak remains reserved throughout, this whisky is very different that Thursday's Glen Grant. While it's still youthful, this single cask reads sweet and pretty rather than lean and punchy. I really enjoyed the tea notes, since the whisky references gentle, savory cups rather than tannic beasts. This is the first of the Glen Grants I prefer with water, and it's the cuddliest one so far. The spirit seems lighter than the other two, and I wonder if the stills had switched from direct- to indirect-firing by this point. The result was certainly not a bad thing.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - near €50 back in 2008
Rating - 86