"Think "innovation" and whisky isn't the first market that comes to mind. Yet, in the moist cellars where distillers are patiently waiting for their current batch to reach a delicious age in exotic oak barrels, they are also dreaming up new combinations. For William Grant and Sons, that dream is the perfect beer-finished blended whisky. This is why the firm engaged Dougal Sharp, the head brewer at Scotland's largest craft brewery, to create a special brew that would infuse the oak barrels with a malty, hoppy flavor that could become part of a whisky during the aging process.

Opportunity in the Drain
William Grant and Sons were pleased with the results. The Grant's Ale Cask Reserve whisky that had rested in the barrels after the beer had been discarded had an exciting and distinctive taste. But as the ever-diligent distillery staff discovered during the process of emptying the barrels, so did the beer itself. So Sharp arranged a partnership with William Grant and Sons that enabled him to take the waste beer from the whiskey manufacture and bring it to market under a new label bearing the middle names of Sharp and his brother, Innis & Gunn."