Glen Grant - 1990s

Founded in 1840, Glen Grant is one of Speyside’s largest and greatest distilleries. The distillery became part of Seagram’s Chivas Brothers group in the 1970s, and was subsequently acquired in 2001 by Pernod Ricard, who sold Glen Grant to Campari in 2006. 

Glen Grant’s association with Italy goes back much further, however. Gordon & MacPhail were already licensed bottlers of Glen Grant in the 1960s when the two companies began a highly beneficial relationship with Italian hotelier and importer Armando Giovinetti which led directly to Glen Grant’s ongoing dominance of the Italian single malt market.

Glen Grant’s spirit is particularly well-suited to very long ageing in both bourbon and sherry casks, making it the perfect fit for Gordon & MacPhail who released a 72-year-old Glen Grant in 2020 and whose semi-official licensed bottlings of Glen Grant are legendary. Indie Glen Grants are abundant and are generally excellent value.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.