Scotland, Speyside. Distillery operational. Owners: Chivas Brothers Ltd, Pernod Ricard

Glen Grant is a textbook case in the history of the Scotch whisky industry. For decades (and still to this day), the distillery's official label was found on both independent bottlings and the distillery's own bottlings. Some of the most active independent bottlers in the 50s and 60s included Gordon & MacPhail, Campbell, Hope & King (which also worked with Macallan for the bottling and distribution of its malt), Cadenhead, Robert Watson and R Moray Bonding. The result is a multitude of available versions, making it an enthralling dram to collect. As Glen Grant was a blender's malt (Chivas Regal, 100 Pipers, etc.), its owners concentrated on a more classic maturation method characterized by bourbon. Gordon & MacPhail for their part decided to specialize in versions aged exclusively in ex-sherry casks. It was a smart move and their vintages casks became highly prized by whisky enthusiasts and collectors across the world.

A Glen Grant distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2018, matured for 22 years in a first-fill Pedro Ximenez cask. This is a limited edition of 207 bottles for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by a group of friends with a particular passion for whisky. The club selects casks whose bottles are then only available to members. The name of the distillery is not mentioned on the label but each distillery is given a number as the malt is bottled. The first cask selected by the SMWS, for example, was Glenfarclas, and it therefore uses the number 1. The second number refers to the number of bottlings from each distillery. The club was sold to Glenmorangie in 2004 and then to a group of investors in 2016.