Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Gradation: 57%ABV
Ageing cask: Finished in ex-Sherry Amontillado first fill
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Dram Mor Group
Average price: € 65.00
Official website: drammorgroup.com
Vote: 77/100
This is the third of the Scottish bottler’s spring releases, and we are returning to the same area as the first we tasted a few days ago: Glenrothes is in fact not far from Craigellachie, two distilleries that embody the spirit of Speyside in different ways.
It’s aged for a total of nine years, an unspecified part of which is in ex-Amontillado casks, a very intense and prized quality of sherry.
As always, thanks to Viktorija for the kind sample.
Tasting notes
The sherry influence on the nose is overpowering, it’s almost hard to understand it is whisky, so intense is it. Very sweet and decadent, figs and prunes, sour cherries, orange marmalade, sultanas in spirit, caramel and almonds rise up. Sulphurous notes emerge along with freshly cut wood, with the alcohol remaining pungent.
In the mouth you feel more the acidic component, accompanied by the alcoholic exuberance here more integrated with the notes suspended between sweet and bitter, where caramel and red fruits intertwine with marzipan and green anise, with a good dose of pepper in between. It becomes more herbaceous along the length, with tobacco and tea leaves and a vague balsamic breath.
The finish is quite long and dry, with caramel. balsamic vinegar, vegetal notes and wood.
I’m not a big fan of Glenrothes, which has rarely convinced me in its expressions both independent and original, always with the impression that it’s the base spirit that lacks backbone, and this single cask seems to confirm this. The finishing is brutal and leads to a disjointed and ruffled result, making you wonder if it wouldn’t have needed a few more years.