
April 13, 2016

Very young and very old Rosebank

Spring was here, and then it went away. As a ay of invoking the God of sun, let’s try some very fresh Rosebank. Well, first a very fresh and light one, and then we’ll see what we can find…

Rosebank 1991/2001 (43%, Dun Eideann)

These bottles were easily available in France at that time. Most probably Signatory Vintage stock. It’s to be remembered that when this came out, Rosebank was more or less ‘just another Lowlander’ and not yet ‘a rare silent still’. A matter of perspective… Colour: white wine. Nose: raw and spirity, without much citrusy fruitiness. Some sand and gravel as well, concrete, clay, ink, new plastic… Nutshell, not of those majestic tangerine bombs at all! Mouth: a little more like that, with some lemon indeed, lemongrass, grapefruits… But the ink and the clay are still there, not as complements (which can be great in whisky) but rather as main flavours, which is a little, well, difficult in my opinion. Saved by lemons. Finish: medium, inky, sooty. Vodka. Comments: as I said, not one of those marvellous fruity Rosebanks. SGP:351 - 78 points.

In fact, that Rosebank was too young. So a much older vintage may be necessary…

Rosebank 28 yo 1965/1993 (53.4%, Signatory Vintage, sherry, cask #2498, 180 bottles)

Quite bizarrely, it seems that this cask was bottled twice. Once as a batch of 250 bottles, and once as a batch of 180 bottles. I had just loved the former (WF 93), let’s try the latter. A few more or less months in wood may have changed the profile. A bit… Colour: red coffee. Nose: just immense. It’s a perfect, dry and chocolaty sherry, with plenty of pipe tobacco and tarry ropes in the background. Rancio. Long story short, it’s extraordinary indeed. With water: soy sauce, yeah! Cigars, yeah! Umami, yeah! Walnut wine, check! Mouth (neat): totally amazing, somewhat in the style of some old Glenfarclas. Prunes and bitter chocolate, many herbs, Jaegermeister, bone dry liquorice… It’s totally extreme, ultra-dry, and just perfect. Wasn’t it genuine amontillado wood? With water: oh cinchona, old bitter liqueurs, artichokes, old rancio, old walnuts… A style that I cherish. Finish: long, stunningly bitter and dry. The best bitter chocolate from Spain or Italy (they both claim they make the best ones – but that’s the French, obviously. Ha!) Comments: the only thing you could say against this astounding old sherry monster is that the distillery does not feel. Which is true. SGP:352 - 93 points.

I had planned to have only two Rosebanks today, but there’s another very old one that’s making moon eyes at me…

Rosebank 34 yo (88°proof, George Strachan, 26 2/3 fl. Ozs, early 1970s)

To be honest, we already tried this one in the past, and loved it, but plenty is no plague, is it? And it’s from another bottle… This is most probably pre-war Rosebank! Some people believe it’s a fake because it states ‘Highland Malt Scotch Whisky’. But it’s not. Colour: white wine. Nose: Isn’t it very funny, in such an old glory, to find notes of pineapples and litchis? But things are soon to change, with much more old metal (toolbox), engine oil, tin box, old coins, very old chardonnay, and then quite some butter. Definitely ‘something from the past’. The other bottle that I had tried had the same metallic profile, but no pineapples. Perhaps ‘metallic’ guavas. Mouth: absolutely wonderful, both herbal and fruity, with a layer of soot and shoe polish. Really fruity at times (passion fruits, green apples), then suddenly very dry and grassy, then fruity again, then metallic, then kind of salty (reminds of the potash we used to lick when I was a kid – but that’s another story), then fruity again (rather citrons, which is very Rosebank)… It’s really restless, perfectly zesty, some kind of white zinfandel that would be ten times more complex than white zin. Okay, one hundred times. Body’s perfect. Finish: long. Fernet Branca mixed with lemon juice, tonic wine, and sun cream. We really need more sun over Alsace at time of writing. Comments: this time, the distillery was clearly recognizable. This version represents the older Rosebank I’ve ever tasted. Sure there was a 1910 spring cap, but that one was a well-known fake. SGP:562 - 92 points.

(merci Carsten, Nicolas, and Teun!)

Check the index of all Rosebank I've tasted so far



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