The second dram of the night for at Swan Song's 4th anniversary is from one of my favourite Speyside distilleries, Glenrothes. Personally I feel that this distillery lends itself to wonderful cask strength expressions that you mainly get from the independent bottlers. The standard core range produced by the distillery is unfortunately not bottled at cask strength and the weaker abv unfortunately causes the enjoyment and flavour to pale in comparison to the distillate expressed at cask strength. Todays tasting is a 33 year old Glenrothes from the 1960s (a wonderful decade that seems to produce more refined flavours as compared to the 2000s) and should be a good progression from the Glen Ord 40 that I have started my night with.
Initial Nose: Honey, cream, lemon/lime pie, butterscotch, plums, prunes,
Nosing after time: Orange notes become more prominent with spices and slight herbal bitterness becoming more aligned with the profile of the palate, slight spices, cinnamon
Palate: slight honey sweetness, slight herbs, slight spices, oranges, lemons, great balances of different profiles that work great together. Nice chewy texture
Finish: bitterness from herbs linger on the finish with sweet cigar notes
A wonderfully refined Glenrothes expression that gives more flavour that I expected from a 30 year old expression. Without being aggressive, the sweet, sour, bitter notes all work really well together without being disjointed. I particularly enjoy how bitterness can be used to cut through the whisky preventing it from being overtly sweet/rich. All in all, a flavourful balanced dram.
Glenrothes 33 (VA.MA) 1967
Glenrothes (1967, 33 Years, ABV 48.5%)
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