Simon tastes Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask Glen Grant 1993/27 Year Old (cask 78208)

Glen Grant is a distillery I'm developing more than a little crush on (at least with the Indie bottlings). And a great time to have a look at a very mature single cask expression, with Master Distiller, Dennis Malcolm having recently celebrated 60 years at the distillery! Parent company, Campari, have released an insanely expensive 60 year old limited release to mark the occasion. 

For many decades Glen Grant went quietly about their business, selling enormous volumes of single malt into the Italian market. Bizarrely enough, it was the 2005 takeover by the Italian drinks giant Campari that saw the start of a strategic shift towards premiumisation, more mature age statements and a focus back down into what goes in the bottle. Expect on-going exciting things from Glen Grant over the next decade.

Those that know me well, know well my love affair with the Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask releases. Some whisky loving friends first showed my a Carn Mor Black Celebration of the Cask North British 1992 back in 2015, and it started a love affair with Carn Mor that only continues to grow with each exceptional release. 

This 27 Year Old Glen Grant single cask bottling in the Carn Mor Celebration of the Cask range was from cask 78208 (2 casks on from the Celebration of the Cask Bequest we have previously enjoyed). Distilled on the 2nd of June 1993, the malt spent 27 years in a single ex-Bourbon barrel before bottling on the 8th of March 2021. Shipping delays kept this from Aussie shores until the end of August 2021.

The colour in the glass is a-typical of what you would expect of this - somewhere between Old Gold and Amber. 

The nose is gentle, but complex.  I get fresh sweet white stone fruit, husky malt with touches of dry hay, heather honey, ginger, candied orange and sandlewood. It's clear on the nose the cask it self has retained clean character, and would have been quite active in it's youth. 

To taste the palate is dryer than the nose would make you expect, at least initially, with some of the stone fruit character building over the long finish. When I hold the liquid on my tongue there is lovely pops of spice, honey and white nectarine fruit. Tannin is certainly present, but balanced well with the touches of fruit sweetness and the candied orange style present. The predictable (for Glen Grant) dry grassy notes are really pleasingly integrated across all the other flavours. 

The long finish is one of the most enjoyable features of this classy malt. It seems to duck and dive in and out of different flavours for minutes on end, highlighting the complexity of this gem. 

Overall this is a really classy malt with great complexity. As is the problem with these single casks releases (this is one of only 172 bottles), there is never enough to go around.

For me - I give this 95 points.