In need of good loving (Glen Grant)
Our mystery visitor discovers a melancholy garden at Glen Grant
I visited Glen Grant on a late summerâs day, keenly anticipating a stroll in the famous gardens (thatâs middle age for you).
However, though it may be a truism, first impressions do count for a lot. Unfortunately, after parking your car, the first thing you see here is a sign directing you to the visitor centre. Nothing wrong with that, you might think, but this sign is rotting away. One good kick and it would fall over.
This kind of thing is a symptom, more important for what it tells you than the thing itself. It is easily fixed â but no-one has bothered.
Perhaps itâs because Glen Grant feels unloved. Our tour began with the guide recounting the distilleryâs various changes of ownership and then observing, rather dolefully, âand now weâre for sale againâ as she outlined the consequence of Pernodâs acquisition of the Allied portfolio.
Itâs an unavoidable result of globalisation that distilleries such as Glen Grant, with a proud heritage and a long tradition, are reduced to bargaining counters in unseemly corporate haggling.
âIâll swap you a single malt for your New Zealand winery, and that will keep the regulators off our backâ, says MegaCorp.
âDone,â says Global Drinks Inc and the workers get a new logo on their overalls.
Anyway, perhaps that explained the air of genteel decay around the place. I found some more rotten signs, the rustic benches needed maintenance and the gents was in semidarkness for want of a lightbulb. Again, little th.....
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By Mystery Visitor
Section : Mystery Visitor
Page number : 40
