Indie Glenrothes are usually very nice, as opposed to most OBs (save a few) which are mostly uninteresting NAS , pumped with Caramel and tasting like toffee candy. It’s quite sad what’s going on with the Glenrothes releases, but thank goodness for IBs, right? When I think about an IB Glenrothes, I usually think about young sherry monsters such as the very popular Adelphi releases (like this), aged 6 / 7 years, but boasting amazing flavors and big big sherry. This , however, is not such a whisky. Although it’s an IB, but it’s quite old, and has been aged in a refill hoggie, meaning flavours will not be as pronounced, but since it’s an older cask, I’m hoping for some more complexity …
Glenrothes 26 yo 1989 Single Malts of Scotland 2016, refill hogshead #8172 , 53,8%
Nose : red apple skins, vanilla, stewed apricot, and apple crumble mini cakes, coconut and some sweet syrup, ginger and more sugar. Quite rich and honeyed. Not a bad start!
A very lovely whisky indeed, nice fruitiness and some nice oak to balance it all. Not the Best Glenrothes of all time, but certainly a worth considering as a nice example for well aged Glenrothes. Sadly it seems to have sold out already on the TWE site.
Score: 88/100