Glen Grant is coming back to the USA!

Over at the "What Does John Know?" blog of Malt Advocate magazine's editor and publisher, John Hansell reports that his contact at Skyy Spirits LLC , sole distributor for Gruppo Campari (aka the Campari Group), informed him that they will be importing Glen Grant single malt Scotch whisky and that the first bottles will be available for tasting at WhiskyFest NY on November 10th, 2009.

Commenting on his blog post, I offered my own brief two-cents:

Finally! This is one of those Speyside gems that has been given short shrift over the years. It was the first distillery in Rothes, built in 1840. The vast majority of the malt has been going to Chivas Bros blends (now about 50% goes towards blends). In 2006 the Campari Group bought it and breathed some new life into the place, bringing back Dennis Malcolm, who was born at the distillery, as distillery manager (this is his second stint; he is one of only 8 distillery managers since 1840). Campari put some money back into the place and gave Malcolm some freedom to improve and rebrand a little. The downside, was that the Italians kept most of the single malt for their own market (it has been the #1 malt whisky seller there since 1961). A couple of years back, about 7 months after the sale to Campari, I spent a wonderful afternoon and early evening with Distillery Manager Dennis Malcolm touring the place, tasting the whisky, interviewing him and generally enjoying myself and his company. Glen Grant is a fun and lovely distillery to visit, and, more importantly, a first rate dram to savor and enjoy.

I'll have to update this soon with a full on distillery profile. Very exciting news methinks.