It’s a nice concept: visitors of the Spirits in the Sky festival could attend a masterclass by independent bottler Duncan Taylor and select the next single cask bottling for Belgium. This Glen Grant 1974 was chosen over four other cask samples (Caperdonich 1972, Royal Lochnagar 1986, Glenlivet 1970 and Macduff 1969).

Duncan Taylor has a whole series of 1970/1972/1974 Glen Grant casks, and a lot of the subsequent numbers (#16569 up to #16582) have already been bottled (but apparently none of the 1974′s are as good as the excellent 1972’s and 1970’s).

Glen Grant 35 yo 1974 (55,2%, Duncan Taylor 2009 for The Nectar, cask #16582, 168 btl.)

Nose: a bit shy at first, it needs some hand warmth to show its full potential. Fruity of course, with tangerine, lemon, apples… Rich honey and a bit of marzipan. A nice oakiness. Not as much oak polish as in the Glen Grant 1972 for The Whisky Fair, as far as I can remember. Mouth: cooked fruits with hints of vanilla. Less tropical than I expected. Honey. Marmalade. Significantly more spicy than on the nose with the oakiness becoming very noticeable (but still within limits). Finish: rather long, drying with lots of spices.

This Glen Grant 1974 is not as great as I hoped it would be. It’s very good however, and based on reviews of its sister casks, I think this is the best of the series. It turns out 1974 was a slightly lesser year than 1972 or 1970 for this distillery maybe? Around € 130.

Score: 87/100

ps/ The box contains an error. The bottle says “cask 16582″ but the certificate says “cask 16882″.