A Glass Of Devotion (Also Available By The Bottle)

Glen Grant master distiller Dennis Malcolm taking a whiff of Devotion, straight from the cask. (Photo by me)

This summer I went to Scotland and, in between gorging myself on full Scottish breakfasts (haggis, black pudding, sausage, bacon, baked beans, fried egg, and I believe a scone), visited the Glen Grant distillery to have a taste of their 70 year old “Devotion” single malt, which is being released this fall. Of course it would have been easier for them to simply have sent us a thimbleful of the whisky to taste and evaluate on our own time in our own homes. But there was a catch. The cask was laid down in September, 1953, and it was only July. The whisky is a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth and her 70 years as monarch, so the whisky couldn’t rightfully be bottled 69 years old and change. I don’t know why they didn’t simply push back the release date, but I’m not complaining, because I and a handful of other writers got to taste Devotion straight from the cask, in the company of master distiller Dennis Malcolm, no less, while the rest of the booze in the barrel waited to hit its requisite three score and ten years of age.

You’ll have to take my word for how good Devotion is, because only seven decanters of the stuff are being made available, at a price of… well, the price hasn’t yet been announced as I write this, but Bottle 1 is going to auction this month and, by Sotheby’s estimate is expected to fetch £70-110,000. Not an insignificant chunk of change. But fret not! There’s still a cask full of the fabled whisky (minus seven decades’ worth of angels’ share and seven bottles’ worth of the liquid itself), and who knows what’s going to happen to it? I don’t foresee it going for $29.99 at your local Liquor Barn, but you never know…..

Anyway, read my writeup over at Forbes (link is -> HERE <-). I mean, why not?

A taste of Devotion. (Photo by me)