The Glen Grant brand is little known in Russia, although it is in the TOP-10 of the world’s best-selling single malt scotch. This whiskey is loved by Italians for its lightness and pleasantly sweet aftertaste. The Scots make fun of the Italian love for a “frivolous” drink with a little exposure, but the fact remains: since the merchant Giovenetti introduced a five-year-old scotch as a worthy competitor to grappa in the sixties of the last century, Glen Grant has been leading the Italian market.
Historical reference. The scotch label depicts two military men at a keg of whiskey – these are the Grant brothers, John and James. Let’s make a reservation right away that they had nothing to do with the owners of the world famous company William Grant & Sons. The brothers at the beginning of the 1840th century were engaged in the production of scotch tape at a small factory in Speyside – in the town of Roths. At first, the distillery was illegal – spirits were produced under the cover of night, smuggled to lovers of strong drinks, secretly from the British tax authorities. But in XNUMX, the brothers licensed the production and continued to create their drinks legally.
John mainly handled production tasks, while James handled equipment upgrades and sales. Thanks to the initiative of James, the distillery was the first in Scotland to receive electric lighting, and the railway line to the city laid in the fifties of the XIX century is also his merit. But John owns the authorship of the method of coloring whiskey with caramel.
But the brightest personality in the Grant family was the son of James Grant, who, after the death of his father, inherited the distillery. James Jr. was only 25 at the time. In addition to fishing in the Spey River, Major Grant loved exotic elephant hunting in India and African safari. From distant wanderings, Grant returned with the skins of African animals, ivory and seeds of outlandish plants.
It was James Jr. who set up a garden of trees and shrubs unseen in Scotland at the distillery, which is now called a green monument to the Victorian era. The garden has survived to our time: consisting of intricate turrets and pointed gables, the distillery is simply buried in greenery, framed by evergreen hedges and flower borders.
Despite the frequent absences of the owner, things were going well at the distillery. Scotch Glen Grant was the first Scottish brand to enter the global market. Already at the end of the XNUMXth century, thanks to the connections around the world of James Grant, whiskey was exported to the USA, Australia and Africa. The drink was actively used for blends and consumed in its pure form.
In 1897, James Grant built a copy of it next to the first distillery – with the same equipment, areas and capacities. But the enterprise worked for only 5 years, and in 1902 it was closed due to the crisis. The work of the second distillery was restored only after 60 years. Until 2002, it worked properly, and then it was closed forever. The reasons are called different, one of them is the loss of the company due to theft. The fact is that a pipe was laid between the two distilleries, through which spirits were transported from the second distillery to the first. The pipe passed under the street, the inhabitants of which often “applied to the pipe” in search of alcohol.
James Grant died in 1931, leaving a thriving distillery to his grandson. Douglas Grant-Mackessack pioneered the bottling of single malt, before him scotch was sold by the barrel or through distributor Gordon & MacPhail.
The era of the Grants ended in 1952 when the distillery and the rights to the brand were bought out and became part of the Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. The company then passed in turn to Seagram, Chivas Brothers LTD, Pernod Richard, and finally, in 2006, Gruppo Campari became the owner. Initially loved by the Italians, Glen Grant finally ended up completely in Italian hands.
The main feature of Glen Grant
We are talking about very high distillation cubes of an unusual tower shape. The design includes Purifie – a copper container that is installed between the cube and the refrigerator. This helps to prevent splattering of already finished products, to separate vapors and to obtain very light fruit spirits.
Types of whiskey Glen Grant
- Glen Grant 5 YO, 40%. Light golden scotch tape with a discreet green apple aroma and a delicate apple flavor.
- Glen Grant 10 YO, 43%. A ten-year-old single malt of a beautiful amber color with a pear aroma and a mild flavor dominated by citrus undertones. The aftertaste is short, with a pleasant aftertaste of roasted almonds.
- Glen Grant 13 Years Old, 43%. Alcohols for the drink were obtained in 1997, and then aged for 13 years in oak barrels from American whiskey. Light golden scotch bottled in 2012, has a pleasant aroma with notes of pear, apricot and apple. The taste of whiskey is spicy, the aftertaste is short, smoky.
- Glen Grant 18 Years Old, 43%. Scotch deep golden color with a pleasant aroma of dried fruits and slightly bitter taste with hints of spices.
- Glen Grant 21 Years Old, 40%. The main difference between Scotch and its counterparts is aging in sherry casks, which is not typical for Glen Grant. Thanks to this, shades of vanilla and grapes appeared in the taste of whiskey, and the color became rich and bright. The attractive aroma of the drink is filled with notes of pear, apricot and grapes.
- Glen Grant Major’s Reserve, 40%. A light golden drink aged five years in bourbon oak barrels is named after James Grant, Jr., who received the rank of major in the army. Scotch has a fresh and light aroma with notes of spring flowers and a mild taste with fruity undertones.
- Glen Grant Five Decades, 46%. An excellent single malt scotch created by master Dennis Malcolm in honor of the half-century anniversary of working at Glen Grant. Alcohols of 50 years of aging in oak barrels were used, which were then poured into Oloroso sherry casks and allowed to brew for a year. The result is a beautiful golden scotch with a rich aroma of sherry, vanilla and honey, and a taste with hints of honey, orange and raisins.
