Grant's Family Reserve

Colour: gold

Body: medium, sticky

Nose: moderate wine flavours from the start, with honey and ripened barley to follow. Next to arrive are echoes of the oak, and a hint of peat. Very nice

Taste: strong flavours of wine, quite sweet, nice barley-malt grain flavours, a little licorice, and some peat. Delicious. The flavours were good at first bottle opening, but became much more robust after the bottle was open a couple of months

Finish: long and strong. The malty grain flavours exit the stage before the wine and peat flavours

Balance: the parts harmonise together well. The flavours are quite strong for 40% ABV whisky. As an inexpensive "standard" blend, I find William Grant's The Family Reserve to be quite remarkably good. It holds its own for flavours and sophistication not only among 'standard blends', but among all whiskies, including those much older and more expensive

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