Here is the odd thing about The Glen Grant 10. On the critics' rating it lands in the bottom 4% of the whiskies at Dan Murphy's. On how broadly drinkers like it, it lands in the top 18%. Same bottle, two very different readings. The scorers and the people doing the drinking are not looking at the same thing.
Taste it and you can see why the drinkers are so warm on it. The first impression is a light, floral lift, fresh as cut hay in the sun. The Glen Grant 10 is light for a Speysider, with honeyed vanilla and lively fruit underneath, a hint of marshmallow, then a soft, dry finish that doesn't outstay. It's clean and straightforward, the kind of introductory malt that's easy to say yes to.
This week it's $66 at Dan Murphy's — a plain everyday price. Set it beside its stand-ins below and draw your own line.
1/Honeyed and vanilla run through both reviews. If you like The Glen Grant 10, the bottle that tastes most like it at Dan Murphy's is Glen Moray 12 — a stand-in that gives you about 99% of what the Glen Grant 10 does.
2/In the glass they rhyme, not repeat. The Glen Grant 10 is light and floral, honeyed vanilla on the nose with a hint of marshmallow, a soft dry finish. Glen Moray 12 noses sweet with honey, icing sugar and orange peel, then barley sugar and nectarine, vanilla on the close.
3/The Glen Grant 10 is $70 for members this week; Glen Moray 12 is $71 for members, about $3.21 a standard drink against the $6.28 a pour costs from a $13 pint at the pub. A yes for each: stay with the Glen Grant 10 if it's yours, reach for Glen Moray 12 when you fancy a change.
A mate keeps his Glen Moray 15 on the bench for Fridays. Hand him The Glen Grant 10 and he'd put it at 88% of what his own bottle costs him — a fair swap, near enough, from the drinker standing closest. Where would yours land? More on The Glen Grant 10 in this week's piece.
The Glenlivet 12 keeps it light: lily, pineapple, and a thick cream that beds the airy flavours down, with a little white pepper once you add water. $76 at Dan Murphy's. The full tasting is in this week's piece.
Like The Glenlivet 12? The Singleton of Dufftown 12 is $69. For anyone on The Glenlivet 12, it does about 99% of what that bottle does, at 91% of the price. Soft, faintly fruity, an easy evening pour. The full write-up on The Glenlivet 12 is in this week's piece.
Ask the drinkers of the bottles closest to The Glenlivet 12 what they'd pay for it, each starting from their own, and you get a spread: $68 at the low end, $117 at the top. This week it's $76, sitting comfortably inside that. The whole of it is in this week's piece.
The Glenlivet 12 is $76 this week, about 22 pours in the bottle, so $3.44 a standard drink at home. That sits 109th of 310 at Dan Murphy's per pour. A pint at the pub is about $6.28 a drink. A light, floral Speyside to sip slowly. More in this week's piece.
The Glenlivet 12 is $76 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $79, so the price has quietly sat down for one. Where that leaves it is your call to make. The full read on The Glenlivet 12 is in this week's piece.
Like The Glenlivet 12? The Glen Grant 10 gives you about 98% of what it does, for 87% of the price. This week it's $66. Honeyed vanilla, a little marshmallow and hay, a soft dry finish. More on The Glenlivet 12 in this week's piece. Fancy a side-by-side?
The Glen Grant 10, $70 for members at Dan's. Light, floral, fresh. Honeyed vanilla and lively fruit, with a whisper of marshmallow and hay. The finish turns soft and dry. A clean malt to start on. It usually sells around $76. More on The Glen Grant 10 in this week's piece.
Hand The Glen Grant 10 to someone who drinks Aberfeldy 12 and they'd put it at 89% of what their own bottle costs, easing it down for being a Speysider rather than a Highlander. Light, floral and an easy introduction either way. More on it in this week's piece.
I keep half an eye on The Glen Grant 10, and this week it's $70 for members at Dan Murphy's. It usually sells around $76, and I've seen it wander between $70 and $81, so nothing too dramatic. More on this light, floral little Speysider in this week's piece.
I've set two Speysiders side by side this week. The Glen Grant 10, $70 for members, is the lighter one: floral and fresh, honeyed vanilla with a touch of marshmallow and hay, and a soft dry finish I'd happily pour a newcomer. The Glenlivet 12, $79, carries more: lily, orchid and pineapple, with a creaminess that beds those flowers down where the Glen Grant lets them drift, and a drop of water brings mandarin, rose petal and white pepper. The two come to $149 at Dan Murphy's for members, against $154 at their usual prices, and $187 for the same pair at Liquorland this week.
A clean introduction to Speyside, and an easy one to embrace: light and floral, with honeyed vanilla, a whisper of marshmallow and hay, then a soft, dry finish. The Glen Grant 10, $70 for members this week. More on it in this week's piece.
Pour The Glen Grant 10 and it opens light and floral: honeyed vanilla, a whisper of marshmallow and hay. An Aberfeldy 12 drinker would pay 90% of their own bottle for it, marking it down mainly for not being a Highlander. More in this week's piece on The Glen Grant 10.
The Glen Grant 10 is $70 for members at Dan Murphy's this week; it usually sells around $81. Light and floral for a Speysider, honeyed and fresh. An easy, uncomplicated malt for anyone new to Scotch. Pour one and see how you find it — more in this week's piece.
Orchid and pineapple, then a thick creaminess that beds those flighty flavours down: that's The Glenlivet 12, $79, and with a drop of water it opens to mandarin and rose petal. At $3.56 a pour it sits under a pint at the pub. Beside it, The Glen Grant 10, $70, light and floral and fresh, honeyed vanilla with a hint of marshmallow and hay, a soft dry finish, an easy clean malt to start on. The two run to $149 at Dan Murphy's for members this week, $160 at their usual prices, and $187 for the same pair at Liquorland.
Kettle's on, the dishes can wait, and this is what's in the glass. Glen Moray 12 pours honey and icing sugar, then soft oak and a dab of lychee, finishing on vanilla. Honeyed, easy, bourbon-cask stuff. Glen Moray 12, $71 for members. More in this week's piece.
Like Glen Moray 12? The Glen Grant 10 gives its drinker about 99% of the same pleasure, for 99% of the price. $70 for members. Honeyed vanilla, a touch of marshmallow, a soft dry finish. One for the drinker after an easy, clean malt. Keen? More in this week's piece.
Ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest Glen Moray 12 what they'd pay for it, each starting from their own glass, and the answers land between $75 and $103. At $71 for members, that's a happy place to be sitting, and it's where this week's piece picks up the thread.
Glen Moray 12 comes to about $3.21 a standard drink at home, with roughly 22 of them in the bottle. A pint at the pub sits closer to $6.28 for the same measure. Pour one at your own pace and have a look at this week's piece on the Glen Moray 12 for the rest of it.
I noticed Glen Moray 12 sitting at $71 for members at Dan's this week, where it usually sells around $79, and for a honey-and-orange-peel dram that's been quietly steady, that's the number I'd keep in mind. More on it in this week's piece — what would you pour it against?
Light but with ballast: lily, orchid and pineapple float, while a thick creaminess beds them down. Add water and you get mandarin, rose petal and a sneeze of white pepper. That mix is why The Glenlivet 12 finds so many friends across the range.
You know the type. Some bottles get worshipped. Glen Moray 12 is the one your mates reach for without a word, and nobody at the table ever argues the point.
Two rungs this week: the 10 at $70, the 15 at $149. One step up the ladder and the price more than doubles. So what does the extra height actually get you?
A mate's fortieth in the backyard, and I've been put in charge of the good stuff. Old mate wanders over, has a nose, reckons orange marmalade and shortbread dipped in honey. 'Go on then, what is it?' That'll be the Deanston 12, I tell him — $97 for members at Dan's.
For once, two separate reads agree on the Glen Grant 10: it is cheap. At $81 it sits under the floor its own cohort would set, and at the very bottom of its own price history. When the value model and the bottle's own record line up, that is rarer than either read on its own.
The Glenlivet 12 is $76 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $79, and $76 is about as low as we've seen it. Not a dramatic move, but worth knowing if this is already your bottle.
The Glen Grant 10 is $70 for members at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $76, and across what we've seen it has run between $70 and $81.
The Glen Grant 10 is $70 for members this week, and since it usually sells around $81, that puts it about as low as we've seen it go. Not a drop to raise an alarm over, just the bottom of a range it has sat in for a while, and a good moment to look at what the whisky actually is.
This week Glen Moray 12 is $71 for members at Dan Murphy's. It usually sells around $79, and we've not seen it stray far: $71 at the low end, $79 at the top. So $71 is the friendly end of its own range.
Glen Grant has two cheap bottles that sit almost exactly on their flavour-crowd, and two older ones that charge a steep premium over theirs. The value is young.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLEN GRANT 18 YEARS | Speyside | $213.99 | observed | $213.99 | $194.23 | 9.2% | #46 of 79 | $9.01 | #59 of 75 | 0 |
| The Glen Grant 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Speyside | $65.99 | observed | $80.99 | $77.40 | 4.4% | #30 of 79 | $2.99 | #16 of 75 | 31 |
| The Glen Grant 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Speyside | $148.99 | observed | $148.99 | $134.73 | 9.6% | #48 of 79 | $5.40 | #43 of 75 | 2 |
| The Glen Grant Arboralis Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Speyside | $76.99 | observed | $70.99 | $69.61 | 1.9% | #14 of 79 | $3.03 | #17 of 75 | 0 |