The Glen Grant unveils 65-yr-old expression priced at $50,000; Master Distiller Greig Stables decodes the rare whiskey

The year was 1958.  NASA was founded, pop icon Madonna was born, and closer home, sprinter Milkha Singh blazed his way to India’s first Commonwealth Games gold. In the quiet town of Rothes, Scotland, a single French oak butt began its patient vigil at The Glen Grant distillery, cradling a spirit destined to mature for more than six decades. That long wait has culminated in one of the rarest releases in the world of fine whisky: a 65-year-old single malt, unveiled in Delhi at the showcase themed “Pour of a Lifetime”. With just 151 hand-crafted decanters available globally, each priced at $50,000, this exquisite creation is a celebration of time, craftsmanship, and legacy.

In an exclusive interaction with Business Today, Master Distiller Greig Stables reflected on the artistry behind The Glen Grant’s oldest expression to date, while sharing his views on the evolving Scotch landscape, shaped by shifting regulations, the ascent of Indian single malts, and the discerning palate of a new generation of connoisseurs.

You are here at a momentous time in India as the whiskey market is growing exponentially. The Glen Grant 65-Year-Old is a remarkable feat. What does it mean, both personally and professionally, to oversee the release of such a rare spirit and in an exciting market like India?

It’s quite spectacular. Obviously it comes with quite a bit of responsibility, the fact that you've got this liquid of that age, which is basically almost like a living thing inside this cask, changing the entire time. So to catch it at the perfect moment and then at the same time, bring together some tremendous craftsmanship with regards to the decanter and the cypher which it sits in and and bring that together. It's quite a challenge. I am just delighted to be able to bring it to the market now and especially since we have come to India with it. The market here is so vibrant at the moment. So for us to be able to launch this halo product for The Glen Grant is just so exciting.

You were born and raised in Speyside, where whisky is part of the landscape. How did your upbringing shape your earliest impressions of whisky?

I was fortunate to live in a town called Keith where there are 4 distilleries and I would walk through one of them everyday to get to school. From a young age, there was intrigue about what was going on, where the noises and smells were coming from. At the age of 18 when I left school, I was lucky enough to get a job in the warehouse department. I was very inquisitive to understand the rest of the process and create a career for myself within the industry and I've been fortunate to have been able to do that. I think that ultimately to be a master distiller was a childhood goal that I've now realised. It's been very interesting because over 30 years, there have been many changes with automation, different markets and seeing different distilleries evolve. Campari Group bought Glen Grant in 2006. So that journey in itself, the investment that we've seen there and the evolution of the spirit and how we've premiumised the brand and made it a real global brand again, is really interesting.

How does it feel to fill in the big shoes left by Dennis Malcolm OBE, the former Master Distiller of The Glen Grant? What has been a transformative lesson that you learned during this journey?

We worked closely together and he stepped back from the production side about 10 years ago and was still the face of the brand up until two years ago. People management and quality, they were the two takeaways from spending time with Dennis. A big transformation is when you become a people manager. You’re not just responsible for yourself then and understanding about how without the correct people, you don't have a brand is key. So ensuring that you look after your people to create that whiskey was a big pivotal point. We are a team of only 22 and everyone has a role to play at the distillery. We do everything, right from the malted barley arriving to the bottles of whiskey leaving.

It’s been 65 years in the making, what flavour profile can the buyer expect? What kind of factors make or break such a long journey for this liquid?

This liquid has been in the same cask for 65 years. It was first filled with 500 litres into a sherry cask in 1958 at the distillery. It has matured since then and it’s a testament to the wood strength that it has only dropped to 55.5% ABV.  The flavour profile is tremendous. The first thing that the consumer receives is that massive mouthfeel of this lovely high strength whiskey. It's very, very rounded, typical of The Glen Grant. The DNA of Glen Grant is fruits and this is still very fruity. The fruits which you taste here are deep, rich blackberries. When you notice this, you get the lovely sweet berries on the nose and then it's dark black cherries when you taste it along with a little bit of sandalwood. Then from that vintage, you're always going to get a slight hint of smoke and there's no big overpowerment of oak from the cask. So it's a very, very elegant whiskey for its years. A phenomenal, elegant whiskey is what it is.

What do you think will be the customer profile of your Indian buyer here? Who is the Indian buyer for such a rare whiskey?

With whiskies, it's interesting because it really is the collector that would be investing in it. The Glen Grant 65YO is such a beautiful product, it's almost like an ornament. It sits in this lovely cypher in this beautiful decanter, so at the same time it's a double edged sword because the liquid is beautiful. So if you were to be buying it and not taste it, then it's very tricky. So it's a very difficult question to answer because. If I was buying it, I'd like to taste it. I don't think I could have it sitting in my house and not open it.

India is the largest whisky market. Scotch is very popular and has been a major driving factor for premiumisation. What has been Glen Grant’s approach to appeal to the Indian palette?

If you look at the history of Glenn Grant, it was predominantly a spirit which was sold in Europe. So when Campari bought it in 2006, it was the biggest selling whiskey in Italy. So it's taken us almost 20 years to build up an inventory to allow us to come to the market in Asia and in India with aged liquids that have got that sharing influence in them. So we've just launched the Glasshouse collection of the 21YO, the 25YO and the 30YO single malts. They've got the balance of the Glen Grant DNA and the fruits and that good age statement at the same time. 

With the UK–India FTA opening new opportunities as tariffs drop for Scotch, how do you see Scotch balancing premium positioning against local competition from Indian single malts or do you view them as collaborators to open up the market even more?

It's great how things have evolved recently. There is definitely a whiskey for everyone and the volume of consumers that we're seeing, the different styles and the different types of whiskey. I can basically see opportunity for everyone going forward because this is such a massive market and when it's opening like this, it's perfect for everyone. 

In the whiskey industry, collaboration is tremendous. It gets competitive at times on the shelf, but it’s always collaboration before it gets to the shelf. It's something that's quite unique to the industry. When you've got these different styles, if you've got someone tasting whiskey for the first time, regardless of where it's originated from, it's great for the industry as a whole.

What parallels can we draw between the trajectory of Indian single malts today and Scotch single malts 30-40 years ago?

I think that there'll be parallels. It's such a difficult thing to do for the manufacturer of whiskey, when you're ageing it because you're making it today for let’s say, 15 years later. So it will be that whole point of if there is enough manufactured, if we've got the numbers right with regards to forecasts. I hope they (Indian distilleries) can maybe learn from the challenges that the Scotch distilleries have faced in the past.

Collectors today diversify portfolios across Scotch, Japanese, and Indian whiskies. In your view, what keeps Scotch the “gold standard” for long-term value and desirability?

There's a diversity within Scotch because we've had so many of these distilleries established for so long, so that’s the differentiator. There's a selection within Scotch itself, where we've got these old whiskies from many, many different distilleries that are coming into that part of the market. I think that's where we stand alone, slightly going forward with the fact that we've got the age profile.

Sustainability is becoming a marker of luxury. How is Glen Grant addressing the challenge of creating whiskies that respect both tradition and the planet?

We've been on the (sustainability) journey for quite some time at Glen Grant. Just last year, we invested £3.5 million on a heat recovery system, which has reduced our natural gas consumption by 20%. It's also reduced the volume of cooling water, which we extract from the river speed by 60%. So we're on that journey to net zero, we just need to understand what's coming next. It looks like it could be electrification and we're doing some studies on that at the moment. But yeah, it's certainly a journey that we're on.