Gordon & MacPhail have just released the second edition in their Mr George Legacy series. It is a Glen Grant 1957, bottled after 64 years of maturation in a first fill sherry butt. While this was laid down ‘Mr George’, as George Urquhart was known to those who knew him best, was at the helm of the business.
You may want to compare to the first edition which was the Glen Grant 1953 Mr George.
Glen Grant 64 yo 1957 ‘Mr George Legacy’ (56,1%, Gordon & MacPhail 2021, first fill sherry butt #3438, 298 btl.)
Nose: as you may know Oloroso means scented or odorous in Spanish. Well, this is muy Oloroso. It shows cherries and raspberries (sweet and sour), with orange marmalade, orange peels and candied ginger. In the background there are elegant resinous notes, pine forest, cigars and polished cedar. Hints of brandy. Some cardamom and cinnamon. Also subtle herbal tea and a puff of smoke in the distance. In short, quite heady, vibrant, complex and really beautiful.
Mouth: very dense and powerful. The wood is strong, immediately delivering herbal notes (thyme, mint and eucalyptus). Coupled to this is chestnut honey, a faint chocolate dryness, resins and plenty of pipe tobacco notes. Mid-palate it bursts into sour cherries and prunes with hints of pink grapefruit and bergamot behind them (rancio style). Also liquorice, aniseed and Chinese all-spice in the end. A charred hint as well.
Finish: very long, drying and herbal. Some blackberries, marmalade, tobacco and oak char.
A real gem again. While I’d say there is a little more charred oak influence than in the first edition, it’s still a hugely complex, wonderful whisky. You get all the richness of a first-fill sherry cask, including a hint of 1950s smoke, and little plain wood overall. Indeed another beauty. It will be available for £ 6000, contact Gordon & MacPhail or retailers like The Whisky Exchange or Master Of Malt.