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13th December 2013 |
William Grant
break away from whisky conventions and
release The Girvan Patent Still 25 Year
Old Scotch Single Grain Whisky.
 Whisky
drinkers have often considered grain
whisky to be nothing more than a neutral
spirit that is used to mix with malt
whisky to create the blended whiskies we
know and love. In a way this is correct,
young grain whisky hasn't got much
character this is obtained by spending
time in the cask but it is ideal for taming
some of the harsher bolder flavours
which can be found in young malt whisky
that may not be palatable to the wider
audience and both blended together make
some very palatable blended whiskies.
In recent years though there has been a
huge increase in the popularity of
single malt whisky which has lead many
whisky connoisseurs to experiment with
other types of whiskies. As none of the
Scotch grain whisky distilleries bottled
their own single grain whisky, whisky
drinkers have had to seek out the
limited amount of single grain whisky
bottlings available from independent
bottlers such as Compass Box or Douglas
Laing's Clan Denny, that is until now!
William Grant & Sons who back in 1963
constructed the massive Girvan grain
distillery in Ayrshire which looks out
into Ailsa Bay (the bay not the
distillery which is also nearby) and the
picturesque extinct volcano island of
Ailsa Craig have announced the release
of The Girvan Patent Still 25 year old,
which is the first of three new whiskies
which will form an ongoing core range of
single grain whisky from the Girvan
distillery.
The Girvan grain distillery took only 9
months to construct and the distillery
went into production on Christmas
Day 1963 which does seem to be a bit of
a tradition with William Grant
distillery's as the Glenfiddich
distillery also went into production on
Christmas day back in 1887.
Even though the distillery has an enormous
output of just over 100 million litres
of grain spirit per year and fill up to
3,000 casks per day, distillery
bottlings of Girvan single grain whisky
have been rarer than hens teeth but
William Grant have now changed that with
the release of The Girvan Patent Still
25 year old.
The Girvan Patent Still 25 year old
was bottled at 42% ABV and carries a price
tag of £250 is available now exclusively
in the UK and will be followed in 2014
by The Girvan Patent Still 30 year old,
42% ABV with an estimated RRP of £375.
It will also be joined by a Girvan
Patent Still No Age Statement also
bottled at 42% ABV with an estimated RRP
of £75.
They all carry big price tags and could
be a hard sell for William Grant as
there are a few independent bottlings
out there around the same age for less
money and I am intrigued by the No Age
Statement Girvan which will be released
next year as in my experience much of
the character in a good single grain
whisky has been obtained during the many
years it has spent maturing in the cask.
As always I will approach the NAS with
an open mind but I will need to
wait until next year with that one but
meanwhile you can read what I thought of
the now available Girvan Patent Still 25
year old below.
Oh, and here is a fantastic picture of a
view of the volcanic island Ailsa Craig
taken from Girvan, with the Isle of
Arran and Northern Ireland visible in
the background, it is nothing really to
do with the whisky other than you can
see it from the distillery but I
couldn't resist posting this as I fly
over Ailsa Craig on my way back and
forth to Ireland most weeks, in fact I
will be flying over it this afternoon. Ailsa Craig
is also known as Paddy's milestone as it
marks the half way point between Belfast
and Glasgow.
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Girvan Patent Still Single Grain
Over 25 Year Old Tasting
Notes
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William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
Some Kentucky bourbon and Canadian corn
character. Lovely vanilla toffee and
oak, mild orange citrus and liquorice
notes hovering in the background.
Taste:
Rich, medium body oils coat the mouth
and keeps the oak in place, smooth
creamy toffee, coconut, light liquorice
and citrusy orange, lovely sugar coated
almonds and fizzy vanilla oak spices.
Finish:
The delightfully slow fade of the
vanilla sweetness and oak spices is
accompanied by a touch of citrus orange.
Comment:
A delightfully rich characterful whisky,
the lovely citrusy orange was a surprise
for a bourbon barrel. A lovely balance
of vanillas and fizzy oak spices. A
lovely dram and very far from the
neutral spirit grain whisky was once
considered to be.
SMW Single
Grain Whisky Score
90/100
Now available from The Whisky Exchange
Priced £245
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Where To Buy Girvan Whisky Online
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of specialist Whisky shops who delivers
to you::
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