Origin: Lowlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 61.4%ABV
Ageing casks: N/A
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Diageo
Average price: € 1,000.00
Official website: www.rosebank.com
Vote: 92/100
Day three, and instead of moving forward in time I go backwards, increasing the age of maturation that dictates the order of these tastings.
First time for Rosebank in the then-owner Diageo’s Special Releases, a 1981 distillate aged in unspecified casks with 4,710 bottles sold (back in the day) for £130, for what is the distillery’s most mature version released at the time by the corporation.
Tasting notes
Lots of wax on the nose, with impressions of undergrowth (mushrooms, moss, wet wood) combined with almonds, fruit (green apple, white melon, peach, mango) and a slight acidity of red fruits (currants, raspberries). Undertones of tobacco, cooked cream, apricot jam and an inflection of sun-dried grass. A mineral vein runs through the aromas, at times with hints of hydrocarbon. Rich, multifaceted, with great balance and elegance.
Wax returns intensely to the palate, accompanied by acacia honey and a drop of propolis, with the alcohol strength that warms but doesn’t burn. But there is not only softness, the acid tip of the nose returns (of red fruits and citrus fruits, between lemon and pink grapefruit) combined with a pronounced salinity with a sprinkling of spices (ginger, white pepper, cumin), almonds, almost unripe fruit and a vegetal background note. More hydrocarbon and mineral notes punctuate the dram.
The finish is long and saline, with acid tips on almonds, unripe fruit, red fruits, damp wood, wax and spices.
Energetic and elegant, a prism of perfectly integrated aromas and flavours that starts in the Lowlands, passing through the Highlands and lingering a few moments on the islands in an interminable and persistent journey.