The Glen Grant aged 10 years
A vacation purchase.
Last week I was on vacation. With the family. (1 Wife and 1 son. Cats stayed at home.)
To France. The land of wine, cheese and baguettes. And whisky!
I did a blog about the French whisky Sequoia Tourbé some time ago and in it I explained that the French love their whisky. In 2021 they imported for £394.5 million from the UK. That makes the French the largest importer of whisky in Europe. And That should be visible in the stores right?
I was looking forward to see if I could find something that I do not see often in the Netherlands. I even warned my wife: "Honey, Sweetie, I do know you think I have enough already, but it might be that I stumble upon something that I need to buy.
(Insert rolling eyes and a sigh as response)
Day 1 was a day of traveling. We did not have to travel that far, according to or navigation, the whole trip should take us 4,5 hours from our home to our vacation destination. With a small child on the backseat, it took us a little longer.
About half an hour before we should reach our destination, we spotted a large French supermarket. We still needed some stuff for breakfast the next day etc.
Within 2 minutes after entering, I spotted the whisky section. And was disappointed.
Where I was expecting a wide range of bottles, this supermarket had a short supply on single malts.
The ones they had, I could have bought in the Netherlands for the same price.
There were a lot of blended malts though and some French "Pur Malt" bottles. (French whisky that is younger than 3 years. Very spirity, not what I was looking for.)
But just below a big orange sticker that said "Offre spéciale", I found this bottle.
The Glen Grant 10 year old. For the insane price of €16,-.
So I put on my puppy eyes, looked at my wife, got the approving nod and bought it.
Now I had this one before, in a different packaging. That packaging had a sticker that mentioned it was named "Best single malt scotch (10 yrs & under)" in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2020. I really liked that bottle, so I got it again.
This whisky, for this price, is a no brainer: Get one, you'll enjoy it.
It is a very nice whisky to have as a daily dram.
On the eye: A warm yellow color. Almost like apple juice. A twirl in my glass gave me thick tears, but not oily.
On the nose: Sweet tones of apple, marmelade, pear, plums. But also spices like nutmeg, cloves and sandalwood.
Taste: An oily feeling on the tongue. Spicy and spirit. Oak, malt, caramel. Fruity tones like apple, peach and nectarine. In the end some dark chocolate.
Finish: A very short finish. Hints of oak and vanilla.