Glen Grant 16 Year

$69 @ Total Wines

The kind of bottle that you buy, savour, love, and then promptly forget about entirely and never re-purchase. An archetypal Speyside whisky, the Glen Grant 16 is all fruit and floral on the nose: fresh apples, red and green, and fresh pears (the bottle's tasting notes don't lie about the intense orchard fruits), but also baking apples and candied apples—caramel-covered dessert treats. Fruit-juice candies. Vanilla. Restrained oak. Cinnamon? Grassy. Fresh flowers. Body is quite light, edging toward watery, and the taste is really just a more restrained repetition of the nose. Throw in some beeswax for good measure. Short, dry finish with a bit of unexpected herbal nuttiness (given the fruits dominating everything else). A great summer whisky, and a really enjoyable flavour profile. But a bit pricey for what you're getting, and a flavour profile that other distilleries do even better (Glenfiddich 15 Distillery Edition comes to mind).

This one, sadly, is also on its way out, though word on the street is that there may be an analogous new release to this one coming out in 2017. We can hope. This one sees more sherry influence than other Glen Grant malts, and it shows - those dried fruit almond/marzipan notes show up on the nose, along with some mango and tropical notes. Palate-wise, this one is rich - creme brulee, marzipan, a bit of white pepper and maltiness with a drop of water. It's an interesting, different spin on the usual Glen Grant style.