Eight Assorted Glenrothes


June 16, 2018

	Angus's Corner From our casual Scottish correspondent and guest taster Angus MacRaild
	Eight Assorted Glenrothes
	...or should that be Glenrothi? Anyway, let’s try a wee bundle of them today. We’ll go backwards by vintage I think...

Glenrothes 9 yo 2007/2017 (64.5%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #30.94 ‘Riding a duck bareback up Mount Etna’, sherry butt, 666 bottles)
The less said about the name of this one the better I think. What’s more I’m not sure having an aperitif at 64.5% is such a sane idea either. And as for the number of bottles... Colour: Light amber. Nose: Starts out on hot coals, dry earth and gravel. Surprisingly ‘noseable’ give the abv. There are some pleasing notes of cherry sweets and strawberry liqueur after a minute or so in the glass. Also a dollop of plum jam and some distant lavender. With water: bready and delicately yeasty as well. Lots of toasted seeds and pumpernickel bread. Also various dried herbs and a leathery aspect as well. Mouth: hot, jammy and spicy. Notes of plum wine, five spice and biltong. Let’s reach for the water... with water: oily - sunflower oil - sooty and with a softer and more elegant earthiness as well. Still rather punchy with a big black pepper note and some watercress. Finish: Long, a little bitter, rather peppery, earthy and with some olive oil. Comments: I found it pretty tough at first but water certainly helps smooth things out. Although, I wouldn’t say its ever truly an ‘easy’ dram. Still, a solid young sherried Glenrothes - not so devilish after all.
SGP: 561 - 83 points.

Glenrothes 19 yo 1997/2017 (46%, Signatory Vintage, Un-Chillfiltered Collection for the whisky club of Whisky.de, sherry butts, casks 9797 - 9801, 3750 bottles)
Colour: Deep amber. Nose: A beautiful combination of brown breads, damp earth, sack cloth, old dessert wine, mushroom powder, face cream, sultanas stewed in cognac and dunnage. All manner of dark fruits and red fruit jams all mingling together perfectly. A light sootiness pervades in the background. The word that springs to mind is ‘harmonious’. Mouth: Pristine, pure, perfect earthy, clean sherry. Wonderful notes of walnut wine, old pinot noir, honey glazed pork, wild strawberry, wild mint, bay leaf and a twist of black pepper. Some orange marmalade, cloves and a bit of coriander seed as well. Just marvellous. Finish: Long, slender and elegant. All on silky notes of raisins, moist Dundee cake, mineral oil and Pu Erh tea. Comments: Seriously, how many totally brilliant, bang for your buck whiskies have been smuggled out of Signatory’s warehouses under this label over the years? Beautiful, pristinely sherried Glenrothes captured at a perfect age.
SGP: 561 - 90 points.

Glenrothes 19 yo 1997/2016 (51.8%, The Whisky Agency for The Drunken Master and others, sherry butt, 300 bottles)

Colour: Mahogany. Nose: A deeply earthy and more than a little old school sherry profile. Lots of aged balsamic, old boal madeira, celeriac, black olive tapenade, fig jam, wild strawberries and dates. The usual concoction of dark fruits, damp earth and old wine cellars that I really can’t help but adore. Gets increasingly leafy and chocolatey with time, and you can eventually add to that some mint tea and old cognac as well. With water: much drier now. Lots of hessian, onion seed and brown toast. A continuing earthiness as well with more aged dry madeira aspects. Mouth: Maraschino, polished hard wood, dried cranberries and damp earth. Pretty thick and full of soft dark chocolate as well. There’s a leathery, meaty side as well - black peppered pastrami and cured mutton. With water: thicker, earthier and more jammy. Lots of raspberry and strawberry jams, some prune juice and more bitter chocolate. Very good. Finish: Long, earthy, drying and prickly with black pepper and unusual spicy notes like sumac and chimichurri. Comments: The unreduced nose was the best part about it for me, the tannins on the palate were just a tad too aggressive to let it past the 90 mark. But this is still superb, clean and muscular sherried malt whisky. Fans of sherry bombs will no doubt guzzle it like Indiana Jones finally getting the antidote.
SGP: 662 - 88 points.

Glenrothes 21 yo 1996/2018 (55.7%, Signatory Vintage for Flanders’ Finest Cask Selection, hogshead, cask #15123, 253 bottles)

Colour: Light gold. Nose: Begins with plenty of fresh butter, Mediterranean vegetables grilled with olive oil, polished oak, pink peppercorns and a hint of real ale. Quite interesting. With water: takes on a eucalyptus/mentholated edge now. Syrupy and herbal with notes of retsina and hemp oil. Mouth: The oak bites a little more firmly on the palate with these notes of graphite and wood shavings at first but it quickly moves into more polished - almost slightly waxy territories. Some notes of green tea, pot pourri, white pepper, cinnamon bark and nutmeg. A little creme brulée sweetness as well. With water: prickly wood spice, tea tree oil, pine cones and a few pear drops. Finish: Quite long and spicy. Lots of prickly pepper, a slug of olive oil and more polished hardwood. Comments: At times this one comes across as a little bit of a tussle between the wood and the distillate, but despite a few jarring points, it never fails to be entertaining. Or tasty.
SGP: 451 - 87 points.

Glenrothes 22 yo 1990/2012 (53.8%, The Whisky Cask, sherry butt)

Colour: Deep gold. Nose: This one is rather more leafy and beautifully honied. A different profile from the more assertive late 1990s ones. Lots of rubbed citrus peels, wee touches of camphor and hessian and notes such as poire williams eau de vie and tiger balm. I find it really quite beautiful actually. Continues with a little white pepper and gooseberry jam. With water: lime jelly, some more resinous, crystalised fruit notes and a very slight earthiness. Still extremely lovely. Mouth: Honey you say? Lots of honeycomb, posh mead, barley wine and damson jam. There’s even this waxy, pollen-esque side to it as well which I find curiously reminiscent of an older Caperdonich. Some lemon jam as well. With water: subtly waxy, earthy, honeyed and with a perfect mix of figs, sultanas and greener fruits. Finish: Medium-long and with a slightly nervous wood spice making its presence felt along with more lemon peel and damsons. Comments: I wasn’t really sure what to expect but this one was really a terrific surprise. One worth seeking out I’d say.
SGP: 651 - 89 points.

Glenrothes 25 yo 1987/2012 (53.4%, Reifferscheid Romantic Rhine Collection, sherry octave, cask #494572, 70 bottles)

No idea how long this has spent in the sherry octave. I’m often a little unsettled by such small casks, I feel they can often be something of a shock to an older whisky’s system. However, open minds... Colour: Light amber. Nose: Again we’re in rather honeyed territory, only this time with added shoe polish, herb butter and some pretty crisp, fresh cereals. Weetabix, cornflakes and some Cinnamon Graham’s (I used to adore them when I was... ah, actually I still adore them). There is a leafy quality and a green aspect about it as well, some ripe apples, gooseberry and pears poached in calvados. With water: really beautiful now, lots of lanolin, olive oil, mint, jam sponge cake and some top quality grappa. Mouth: superb! It’s really a similar profile to the 1990, with all this honey, subtle spice, elegant, supple earthiness, wee touches of hessian cloth and lamp oil. Glenrothes ay, who knew! I don’t really detect any kind of over or lopsided cask trickery. Given blind I’d never have even mentioned the word ‘octave’. Goes on with a little nutmeg and some wood spice. With water: herbal, resinous, touches of ointment and many crystallized fruits. Some star fruit and a little green banana. Finish: Long, oily, honeyed, lots of yellow flowers, pollen, citrus rind and a tiny nibble of pepper. Comments: Glenrothes is not a name I get particularly excited about, but if the owners have possessed stocks such as this and not shouted about them from the rooftops then shame on them. Why on earth wouldn’t you trumpet such lovely whiskies more loudly and proudly? Another great surprise that’s very much in line with the 1990. Same score but I was really agonizing about the 89/90 divide...
SGP: 651 - 89 points.

Back to the SMWS...

Glenrothes 35 yo 1980 (43.8%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #30.90 ‘Juicy fruit and perfumed sweetness’, refill hogshead, 156 bottles)

The name on this one isn’t too ‘out there’ Serge, maybe the good folks at the SMWS changed their dealer? Colour: Deep gold. Nose: Toasted oak, furniture polish, camphor, crushed green peppercorns and some wonderfully buttery brioche. Goes on with a little mead, notes old slightly over-aged Sauternes and old Benedictine herbal liqueur. Quite some honey, quince paste and some bright little notes of green fruits. Gets a little fresher and more luscious with time. The kind of nose that only time in refill wood and a cool climate can deliver. Feels a little fragile but quite beautifully so; the fruitiness is both beguiling and nervous. Mouth: the oak is just a notch too loud I think but it is very clean. Lots of mulling spices, tea tree oil, bark, resin, perhaps some of those wee milk bottle sweeties and then a move towards more overt fruitiness with greengages and lemon rind. Lightly earthy as well with a little time and more of these lovely notes of quince and some fig jam. The woodiness retracts with time and more balance between fruit and spice emerges. Although there is always a slight spicy bite about it on the palate. Goes on with some gingerbread and notes of green tea. Finish: Quite good length for such a naturally low strength. Notes of banana bread, treacle and some more candied citrus peel. Comments: A bit of a tightrope walker this one, veers between wood, spice and fruit by the skin of its teeth. But overall it’s very drinkable and quite delicious. I think bottled a few years earlier with a notch more alcohol and it would have easily reached 90 or higher. It feels like it was caught on the way down.
SGP: 641 - 88 points.

And one special treat for the road...

Glenrothes-Glenlivet 42 yo 1932/1974 (70 proof, OB)

A totally crazy old bottle that our good friend Emmanuel opened for the Whisky Show Old & Rare last year. Probably done for a private customer back in the day. Colour: Deep gold. Nose: Pure exotic hardwoods with quince paste and more ancient sweet wines than you can count. There’s stacks of pipe tobacco, unlit cigars and this wonderfully intense - almost syrupy - coconut aroma that seems so specific to these 1930s/40s, long matured single malts. There’s also the quietest, shiest, most resinous and elegant wee hint of peat. Mouth: About as rich and textural as malt whisky can be at 40% I think. Polished wood, bags of rancio, coconut milk, some ancient balsamico, some even more ancient yellow Chartreuse and all manner of complexities such as coal dust, more litres of ancient dessert wines and many dried herbs and waxes. Quite incredible. Finish: Medium in length and you start to feel the age and fragility. What a shame this wasn’t bottled at whatever its cask strength was. Even a few degrees would have propelled this into the stratosphere. Comments: Hard to score such a majestic old warhorse of a dram. The nose alone is pure poetry. The palate exceptional as well. It’s really just in the finish it falls down a wee bit. But of course we can forgive that in such a unique old whisky. A humbling window into past eras of production, materials and people in Scotch Whisky.
SGP: 672 - 92 points.

Many thanks Emmanuel and Dirk.