January 6, 2014

New or newish Glenrothes
from NAS to 1988

At Glenrothes too there’s more and more no-age-statement whiskies. Today let’s have two new travel retail exclusives and then, maybe, a few other Glenrothes…

Glenrothes 'Elder's Reserve' (43%, OB, Manse Brae series, travel retail, 2013)

The brand’s website says that this baby’s 18 yo and was ‘matured for a minimum of 18 years in equal proportions of American Oak and Spanish Oak casks’. Colour: pale gold. Nose: typical official Glenrothes with good sherry and plenty of honey, maple syrup, toffee and roasted nuts. I also enjoy the touches of liquorice as well as the Ovaltine, not to forget the hints of marmalade. Ultra-classic malt whisky, extremely easy and probably consensual. Mouth: all on honey, cane sugar, marmalade, roasted peanuts and gingerbread. Apple pie and speculoos. Good body, it’s no thin whisky at 43% vol. Finish: maybe a little short, honeyed and marmalady. Comments: an easy all-rounder, if you like them honeyed. SGP:541 - 82 points.

Glenrothes 'Minister's Reserve' (43%, OB, Manse Brae series, travel retail, 2013)

‘Matured for a minimum of 21 years in a higher proportion of Spanish Oak casks’. Colour: gold. Nose: very similar but I find this one a little shier and certainly a little more marked by the oak. That translates into touches of pinesap, furniture polish and cedar wood, I’d say, before we have more sultanas and the traditional honey, marmalade and toffee. Very nice rounded and complex nose. Mouth: the oak’s more obvious, there are green tannins and quite some strong tee beyond the very toffee-ish profile. Bitter chocolate, marmalade, roasted nuts and a little mocha. Finish: of medium length, maybe a notch drying (cedar wood). Orange blossom water and walnuts. Comments: same good quality as the Elder’s, I’d say. A notch more complex but also a tad more drying, hence the same score in my little book. SGP:451 - 82 points.

Glenrothes 2001/2012 (43%, OB)

Glenrothes 2001/2013 (43%, OB)

This is the second eddition of the 2001. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s a rounder, more chocolaty nose again. Honey cake and gingerbread, Ovaltine, custard and… Mars bar. A little earth in the background, which ads complexity. I like this. Mouth: more power than in the NAS versions, more roundness, more honey, more liqueurs and more jams. It’s not that it’s ueber-complex but what it does it does well. Malt jam and apple pie. Finish: relatively long yet clean and kind of light, with more oranges than in the others. Touches of pencil shavings and nutmeg in the aftertaste. Comments: I don’t always need a lot of complexity. SGP:441 - 85 points.

Let’s see if we can find new Glenrothes from the indies’…

Glenrothes-Glenlivet 18 yo 1994/2013 (46%, Cadenhead)

Colour: straw. Nose: this is very interesting, we’re having more or less the same profile as the OBs’, only without the layer of sherry and marmalade. So the honey’s doing all the talking, together with overripe apples and a little earth and cut grass, as well as hints of lavender flowers and juniper. Nicely fresh and kind of floral. Mouth: a zestier official, I’d say. Custard, honey, marmalade, fresh oranges, maple syrup, roasted nuts and then rather more pepper. Finish: quite long, malty, grassier than before. Grapefruits? Comments: on par. An IB that really tastes like an OB in spite of a fresher, zestier nose. All good. SGP:541 - 85 points.

Glenrothes 18 yo 1995/2013 (46%, Signatory, Un-Chillfiltered Collection, first fill sherry butt, cask #6175, 784 bottles)

Signatory already issued quite a few excellent sherried 1995s. Colour: amber. Nose: it’s a lovely earthy and leathery sherry that develops on bitter oranges, honeydew, Corinth raisins, cinchona and gunflints. Also touches of wormwood, that’s nice! Mouth: just excellent. Bitter oranges, chocolate, honey sauce, bitters (Campari), blood oranges and a little toffee and white chocolate. This works very well. Finish: long, with more spices, around pepper and ginger but the orangey side remains very big. Comments: much to my liking, with a fresh kind of sherriness. Gracias Signatory. SGP:551 - 87 points.

Glenrothes 25 yo 1988/2013 (47.2%, Sansibar, bourbon cask)

Colour: gold. Nose: this one’s very ‘fresh Speyside’, that is to say all fruitsalady (S.!) and mildly honeyed. Ripe pears and apples, nectar and honey, a tiny-wee earthiness and then the obligatory oranges and custard. Pretty perfect. Mouth: really a fruit salad, including citrus and other tropical fruits such as mangos and papayas. Perfect body, with a few light spices that bring structure. First cinnamon, then light pepper and ginger. Finish: medium length. A little more vanilla and maybe a cinnamon that gets a tad loudish. Comments: for fresh fruit lovers. SGP:641 - 86 points.

Glenrothes 25 yo 1988/2013 (53%, Archives, refill sherry hogshead, cask #7318, 213 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: same as the Sansibar, more or less. Maybe a wee tad earthier and more mineral, but that may be the higher strength. Juicy apples, Starkrimson style. Very fresh, very nice. Mouth: ditto. A fruit salad again, papayas, guavas, oranges, acacia honey, sweet apples and tangerines. Same kind of spiciness. Finish: same. I have to say these batches tend to taste like the fruity Littlemills at times. Well, there are similarities but these Glenrothes are less zesty. Comments: very similar, quality’s high. You just have to like big fruits. SGP:641 – 86 points.

Good, I think there’s room for one more…

Glenrothes 22 yo 1990/2012 (50,7%, Maltbarn, sherry cask, 151 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: this one’s rather less fruity, rather drier, rather more on chocolate and coffee and rather grassier and earthier as well. A little farmy/leathery, I’d say, it’s maybe not one of the sexiest fruity Glenrothes ever, I’d say. With water: more grass and farmy notes, as well as a little ‘nice’ sulphur (asparagus). Mouth (neat): it’s all happening on the palate, with many fruits again, apples, pears, oranges, gooseberries… Having said that there’s rather less honey than in the previous ‘Rothes. With water: more apples, many more apples… As pies, as juice and as cider. Doesn’t swim extremely well, you cannot quite go below 45% vol. Finish: medium length again. The oak comes out a bit more. Candy sugar in the aftertaste. Comments: certainly very good, that’s all I can add. SGP:541 - 84 points.

No whisky below 84 and none over 87, that’s the definition of an all-rounder, isn’t it.

(thank you Herbert)

New or newish Glenrothes from NAS to 1988

New or newish Glenrothes
from NAS to 1988