Glen Grant 20 Year Old Director's ReserveSpeyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky Distillery Bottling 26 1 3 Fl Ozs 75 proof Bottled in the seventies this is a great chance to try some seriously old style, top class Glen Grant. Metallic, mineraled, waxy and filled with old style fruit qualities, this is a serious malt that leaves many modern whiskies miles behind. Sheer class in a bottle. From the label: 20 Year Old Director's Reserve. From time to time the directors of Glen Grant Distillery offer

this remarkable 37-year-old Highland malt was distilled on 4th March 1971 and bottled at natural cask strength by the Dead Whisky Society in 2008

The classic Ballantine's 17-year-old bottling from the 1990s

An old Haig's Dimple De Luxe from the 1970s

At the time of J&B Ultima's creation

smoke and minerals

It is now long since sold out and almost impossible to find

The complex flavours

this was one of a few Gordon & MacPhail bottlings that were partially responsible for turning a burgeoning malt fan base onto the epic brilliance of Ardbeg

Combine that with the fact that 1974 seems to have produced a number of remarkably excellent bottlings from this distillery and you have a very promising and fascinating dram indeed

The screen-printed bottles Bowmore used in this period were elegant but impractical

green bananas

well worth trying given the reputation of these mid-late 1970s stocks at Benromach