Glen Grant 70 Years Old set to launch

Speyside distillery The Glen Grant will release just seven decanters of its oldest whisky to date – a 70-year-old single malt.

The Glen Grant 70 Years Old was inspired by the late Queen Elizabeth II, and is a nod to her 70 years on the throne.

The 70-year-old whisky was drawn from a single French oak butt, seasoned with oloroso Sherry, which was filled in 1953.

Bottled at 55.5% ABV, the whisky is said to taste of dried fruits, raisins, dry spice and a hint of oak. The aroma is described as offering ‘intense’ barley sugar, ripe peach and honey sweetness.

Dennis Malcolm, master distiller, said: “In the true spirit of The Glen Grant, we bring together the inspiring legacy of our story with the personal devotion of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, to realise this exquisite masterpiece.

“To be devoted, is to show unwavering loyalty and love to something you care for deeply, which sits at the heart of our whisky-making philosophy, as well as shining through with our creative collaborators. This is a lifetime of character and legacy captured in a magnificent creation, like nothing we have ever seen.”

Each of the seven decanters has been uniquely designed to celebrate each decade of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

The first decanter will be auctioned via Sotheby’s, and is expected to sell for between £70,000 and £110,000 (US$88,800 and US$139,500).

The online auction will run from 11 September to 22 September, with all proceeds to be donated to the Royal Scottish Forestry Society for which Queen Elizabeth II was a patron.

Decanter Number One is engraved with ‘The Queen Elizabeth Rose’, named after the late queen.

After the auction of decanter Number One, the following bottles will be available to purchase in the US and Asia from October 2023. The price will be available upon request.

Jonny Fowle, global head of spirits at Sotheby’s, said: “This whisky embodies so much of what is important in whisky collecting: quality, rarity, age and most of all provenance as the oldest whisky ever to be released directly from The Glen Grant distillery itself.

“This whisky displays a fantastically deep, dark colour after seven decades of oak maturation, which contrasts beautifully with John Galvin’s opulent light wood structure making it the perfect centrepiece for the world’s most impressive whisky collection.”

In August, Diageo donated the first bottle of a 50-year-old Brora single malt whisky to the Distillers One of One charity auction.