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Glen Grant 28 Yr 1979 Speyside Single-Barrel Bottling from The Malt Trust
Estimated retail price: $239 per bottle
We're pouring one ounce for $8
Glen Grant was founded by two former illegal distillers and smugglers. In 1840, brothers John and James Grant decided to take out a license. With the sea and port of Garmouth nearby, the River Spey at its feet and barley-growing plains nearby, all the basic ingredients of malt whisky were close at hand. This time the distillery was legal. James ‘The Major’ Grant, born in 1847, inherited the business in 1872. He was to prove himself a worthy successor.
The Major was a legendary traveler and innovator. He was the first man in the Highlands to own a car. Glen Grant was the first distillery to have electric light. And he introduced the tall slender stills and purifiers that create the distinct malty flavor and clear color that defines Glen Grant whisky to this day. By the time he died in 1931, his distillery had become one of the most famous in the world. Douglas MacKessack, his grandson, succeeded him.
While Glen Grant is no longer family-owned, it's tall stills continue to produce the singular malty, light colored whiskies that made it famous. This is a numbered bottle (#176) from a single barrel of 1979 whisky that was dumped in 2007 and has been resting in bottle since. That will come to an end on Thursday when I, with my own two hands, open the cork and pour some for you (and me).
Next week, we'll have a very special spirit indeed: Cognac Delamain "The Reserve de la Famille." This rare single barrel bottling would retail for about $550.
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