Final bottles of Glen Grant 72YO to sell for £50,000

by Kate Malczewski

The last 50 bottles of a 72-year-old Glen Grant single malt Scotch whisky from Gordon & MacPhail will go on sale next month for £50,000 (US$66,959) each.

Created by investment specialist Premier Whisky and independent Scotch bottler Gordon & MacPhail, the rare single malt was distilled by Speyside producer Glen Grant in 1948. The liquid was matured in an American oak ex-Sherry cask. It is presented in a crystal-cut glass decanter, and just 290 bottles were produced. Glen Grant 72YO was unveiled in January 2021, when bottle number 88 was auctioned at Bonhams Hong Kong. Collectors have already snapped up 200 bottles of the whisky. The final allocation of 50 bottles will become available for purchase after Chinese New Year (1-3 February). Once the bottling hits the secondary market, it is expected to fetch more than £100,000 (US$133,872). "This is altogether an amazing and hugely rewarding whisky," said Charles MacLean MBE, whisky writer and Master of the Quaich. "Although I have rarely encountered whiskies of such advanced age, I am generally sceptical about very old malts – they lose vitality and tend to become fragile and flat, generally owing to low strength. Not in this case. I can honestly say this is one of the finest malts it has ever been my pleasure to taste in forty years of professional exploration." More information is available at www.premierwhisky.com. Gordon & MacPhail earned a world record last September when it released the oldest single malt Scotch whisky ever produced, Generations 80 Year Old. The bottling became the world's oldest single malt sold at auction in October 2021. Also in October last year, Glen Grant launched a 60-year-old single malt to honour its master distiller, Dennis Malcolm. Last November, Gordon & MacPhail debuted a one-off Scotch whisky collection of rare bottlings priced at £100,000.