Characters like The Glen Grant’s longest-serving Master Distiller Dennis Malcolm are a rarity these days — it’s what makes their latest Glasshouse Collection so special.
Modern mindsets mark The Glen Grant’s Master Distiller Dennis Malcolm as more than just one of Scotch whisky’s living legends — characters like his are a rarity these days. Looking at parallels in the sport of football, players who return to their boyhood clubs are always revered as legends — there’s a certain poetic romance about hometown heroes going back to where it all started for one last dance. The arc of Malcolm’s storied career is exactly the same — albeit in whisky-making.
Malcolm’s affiliation with The Glen Grant feels like it was written in the stars — he was born in 1946, in a house on the grounds of the distillery he would one day manage and eventually return to as Master Distiller. Beginning his career at The Glen Grant at the age of 15 as an apprentice cooper, he eventually transferred into production like his grandfather and father before him, assuming the position of production manager. As part of his tenure as production manager, he oversaw an impressive expansion of the distillery that doubled its capacity, without stopping production.
He went on to manage other Speyside distilleries, before returning to The Glen Grant as Master Distiller. Calling time on his illustrious 63-year career — most of which was spent at The Glen Grant — he announced his retirement this June, handing the reins over to protege Greg Stables, who also played a key role in the production of the Glasshouse Collection. A career as long and decorated as Malcolm’s is no mean feat — it is fitting then, that his swansong collection comprises the oldest aged expressions ever in the distillery’s permanent collection.
Delving deep into The Glen Grant’s history while also drawing on Malcolm’s own boyhood experience growing up on its grounds, the Glasshouse Collection is inspired by the Victorian glasshouses in which distillery founder James ‘The Major’ Grant housed the flowers and plants he collected from his far-flung voyages. Malcolm himself frequently snuck into these glasshouses as a boy, admiring Grant’s collection of exotic plants and the fruit they bore. Each expression in the collection reflects a time of day — from first light till moonlit night — the light in the glasshouse serves as a metaphor for each expression’s character.
As expected from one of Scotch whisky’s longest-serving figures, the basics across all three expressions — the 21-Year-Old, the 25-Year-Old, and the 30-Year-Old — are done right. All three expressions might not be bottled at cask strength, but ABV ranges from what is still a respectable 46% to 48%. The expressions are also non-chill filtered, and are naturally-coloured.
Beginning with the 21-Year-Old, representing first light, the expression possesses a sweet, fruity, American oak-forward profile. There are notes of toffee, raisins and peaches on the nose, segueing into a burst of tropical fruit and creamy butter notes on the palate, before fading into a long, sweet finish, with a hint of heat evoking the warmth of the first light of day. The expression’s rich, creamy mouthfeel is unexpectedly robust for a 46% ABV expression — a pleasant and welcome surprise.
Moving on up, the 25-Year-Old embodies golden hour in the glasshouse. Sweet citrus and chocolate notes waft through on the nose, prefacing the notes of smooth dark chocolate, zesty orange rind, and earthy oak and nutmeg on the palate. Notes of spice on the medium finish, embellished with a barely-noticeable hint of soft smoke, hint at a sherry cask influence. Once again, mouthfeel is delightfully rich for a 46% ABV expression, which — in combination with the warm and earthy notes of spice and oak — results in what we imagine sunset would taste like, if it were Scotch.
When it comes to age statements, a longer maturation period is not always indicative of quality, but in this case, the 30-Year-Old is by far the most enjoyable expression in the collection. The embodiment of the glasshouse bathed in moonlight, the expression opens with sweet honey, dried fruit and nectarine notes on the nose, before mellower, creamy and oaky toffee notes with a hint of caramel greet the palate. The finish is smooth, sweet and long — the fruity notes fade back in, and a hint of oak spice creeps through as well. Bottled at 48% ABV, mouthfeel is rich and creamy as expected, and the pronounced oaky, dried fruit notes mark this expression as more sherry cask-forward than its 21- and 25-Year-Old brethren, which — depending on your preference — might not be a bad thing at all.
It is undeniable that The Glen Grant Glasshouse Collection is great, but the value that it possesses transcends beyond just the quality of the spirit — what makes it truly special is its embodiment of both the essence of the distillery’s founder, and the man who was destined to lead it, now signing off one last time. As far as farewells go, it does not get much sweeter than this.
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