Glenrothes 1975 Limited Release

43% abv

Score:  89.5/100

Ok. Tackling one more ’70s vintage Glenrothes release here.  1975 this time.  These Limited Release expressions are quite delicious as a rule, and this ‘ere is no exception.  Not my favorite, I’ll concede, but a lovely well-made dram nevertheless.

By no means the sherry bomb one might expect in a whisky from this distillery, I can only speculate that this would have been a lovely fiery dram if it had been bottled at cask strength.  To my dying day I will never understand the rationale to bottle an older malt at anything less than natural cask strength.  Stretching your stocks is understandable in terms of profit concerns, but seriously…jack your prices a little and give us this malt at a higher strength, please and thank you.

Anyway…

A fine nose here.  Old and mature latex notes, telling the tale of seasons spent mellowing away in the cask are front and center.  A fantastic fruity melange follows, built of layers of cherry and raspberry, and then an orange tang.  A smooth and creamy vanilla cake-like lightness, not necessarily too far off from notes of crème caramel or toffee pudding as well.

Old latex notes again (not a bad thing!) and faux sour cherry hit the tongue first.  From here the malt kinda bitters a bit.  A pleasant pungent earthiness too.  The nose would have scored it higher, but it kinda hits some sharper bitter notes on the palate that kept me honest in terms of scoring.  Still a great drink though.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Glenrothes John Ramsay

46.7% abv

Score:  90.5/100

To celebrate his pending retirement, Glenrothes’ ‘Malt Master’ (what does one have to do to earn a title like that?!) john Ramsay put together this rather special vatting of sherried single malt.  A range of casks dating between 1973 and 1987 were selected as special vintage, married together and re-racked into sherry butts for a further period of integration.  Two of these butts were then vatted, with an output of 1400 bottles, to make up the Glenrothes John Ramsay Legacy.

Going out on your own terms is something very few of us ever get the opportunity to do in life.  To go out on your own terms and have your swan song be something like this?  Not bad, John.  Not bad at all, sir.

A lovely nose.  As to be expected from a distillery famous for its sherried drams, the primaries here are…well…very typical sherry characteristics.  Sweet and tangy, dark fruit and spice.  Citrus zest (somewhere between orange and grapefruit), French vanilla cream, faded potpourri, sage, eucalyptus and some lovely ‘inexplicable’ fruits.

The palate is tannic and drying with flavours of wine gums and a warming spiciness (clove and ginger, methinks).  On into an almost tangerine note and further into the spices.  There is a creamy sweetness here too that I can only compare to adding honey to tea.  Imagine a spoonful of honey that has only half melted off into the hot liquid before you pull it out and taste the warm sweet melt on your tongue.  A very downhome old school licorice-ness to it as well.  Long and lingering.

I’d love to sip this one late one snowy eve by the fireplace.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Glenrothes 1978

43% abv

Score:  90.5/100

Another great ’70s Glenrothes release.  This time from my birth year.  (Please keep all snarky comments to yourself, thank you very much).

With the ‘Rothes producing upwards of five and a half million litres annually, only a small portion of their distillate actually ends up in either one of their ‘vintage’ releases (i.e. with a year on it) or more likely, in their ‘Select Reserve’ entry level malt.  It is reassuring to note that once you move away from their blend fodder, or this rather mundane entry level whisky into some of the older vintages, you will find some real gems.

Here’s just such a one.

Aromas of raspberry jam and the best of Christmas cakes.  Fruits and fruits and more fresh fruits.  Big vanillins and a bit of caramel courtesy of cask-leeching.  Restrained honey and cinnamon stick, soft nuts, artificial cherry.  Quite a marriage.  Familiar and comfortable.

Sweet, fruity mouth-watering delivery.  Slightly wine-ish, with some nice spice dustings.  Again…jammy.  Dries into nice mellow oaky notes and fresh apple.

A lot of good things came out of 1978.  Just saying.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Glenrothes 1972 Limited Release

43% abv

Score:  91.5/100

The ’70s are generally regarding as the true apex of whisky making.  Malts from this age have a certain something that is intangibly fantastic.  The flavour profiles, while not consistent from distillery to distillery, are very specific to this era.  These whiskies scoop awards, command hefty sums and stun the palates of those fortunate enough to partake.

Glenrothes, on the other hand, is not a distillery that I hold dear.  Not bad, by any means (‘bad’ being an adjective I reserve for very few drams), but ‘underwhelming’ would perhaps be the most choice work to describe.  It’s that terrible Catch-22 type situation, where the best of the distillery’s malts are old and rare, but of course the distillery needs to turn bottles at a younger vintage in order to maintain cash flow.  And obviously…to attract a younger or more cash-conscious demographic.  Let’s be realistic; not everyone can afford three figure bottles.

In this lovely old limited release 1972:  Dusty and old jams n’ jellies.  Spicy oak notes, empty cigar boxes and honey nougat (the stuff of Toblerone).  Fruits are primarily of the dehydrated and dessicated sort…mainly dried apricot.  After it sat a bit, I got the faintest coal notes.

The palate is mixed dried fruit, but primarily prune and apricot.  Cloves and wet wood.  Takes us into granny smith apple territory towards the end.  Mature and lovely.  Great depth and flavors that bend and transform over time on the palate.

One of the best ‘Rothes I’ve tried.  …So far.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Glenrothes 1988

43% abv

Score:  80/100

I don’t think I’m being an age elitist or anything here (hopefully faithful readers will know by now how much I enjoy some of my spirits quite young), but I truly haven’t found a Glenrothes I’ve enjoyed that came from anything later than the ’70s.  Honestly.  Age does not equal greatness, it’s true, but there is simply no denying that there were a lot of great malts casked in the 70s, and time has been kind to more than a few of them.  Glenrothes falls nicely into this band.

The flipside, unfortunately, is as I stated.  I have not found much to celebrate in the distillery’s more recent output.  Wood policy?  Cask selection?  Vatting inconsistencies?  Who knows.  I would be speculating, and I’d rather not do so.  Suffice it to say that more often than not Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Glendronach get my dollars when it comes to this region/profile.

The nose here is quite unforgiving.  Sharp, floral and slightly bitter.  For this age I would expect a little more subtlety and grace.  The oak is heavy and plodding, while the sherry is aggressive, and not altogether charming, in a rum-soaked Christmas cake way.  Notes of spiced apple and orange tucked way in the back are pleasant, but there is a yeasty bread dough character that works to muffle these.

Barley cuts through the sherry on the palate.  Spiced fruit, apple and notes of damp wood are loud and seemingly in charge immediately on delivery.  Again…slightly yeasty as well.  As expected, it is warming and the finish is moderate and meh…unoffensive.

A disappointing expression, to be sure.  Especially at 20 years on.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt