Scotch Review #63: Chieftain’s Glen Grant 19 Year Old – Cask #91632

Distillery: Glen Grant

Region: Speyside

ABV: 46%

Age: 19 Year, Distilled May 1997

Price: $19 / pour at a bar

Color: 1.2, Chesnut/Oloroso Sherry. Natural color and non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Sweet, a bit of a malt, a bit of mixed fruits, and then a slight bit of ethanol at the end.

Palate: Ginger, ginger, and more ginger with a side of malt and crystallized ginger. It reminds me more of ginger ale or ginger beer than anything else.

Finish: Short. Crystallized ginger and finishes off much like a soda would.

Conclusion: I was really excited to see this as another Chieftain’s bottling is what got me started down this crazy path of scotch seeking about a year ago and I was hoping to get a nice treat from this. Having had this though, I have to say it is the strangest whisky I’ve ever had and perhaps the most un-scotch-like one as well. Guess that’s how the lottery of IBs go. The best way to describe this is a spiked ginger ale. The nose teased a bit of fruit which was nowhere to be find anywhere else. The palate and finish are all just filled with ginger and it finishes just like a soda would. Even adding some water did nothing to break up the ginger party. It wasn’t pour-it-out-bad but I was not expecting this. Would I buy a bottle? No.

Final Score: 72.

Scotch whisky review #63, Speyside review #29, Whisky Network Review #86

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.