Glenrothes 1998 vintage

Four years ago, on a particularly joyous payday, I walked across the street to my local package store with a mission. I was about to "get into" whisk(e)y. After much deliberation, I purchased three bottles: a bourbon, Russell's Reserve; an Irish, Michael Collins; and a scotch, The Glenrothes Select Reserve. From the start, I was more interested in the scotch, and my first bewildered tastings confirmed the hunch. The bourbon was too harshly sweet and the Irish a touch too oily, but the Glenrothes was wonderful. My fascination with scotch whisky -- it's flavor, it's culture, and it's history -- began there.

I couldn't tell you why it's taken me so long to revisit the distillery, but I'm certainly happy I did. What a pleasure to taste this spirit again, and what a wonderful surprise to find that the 1998 vintage is even better, on every level, than the budget-priced entry bottle I enjoyed years ago.

The nose is clean and bright and irresistable -- a dessert tray arranged in shades of yellow: the bold whiff of lemon bars, a soft undertone of banana pudding, a handful of butterscotch candies. Fingernail polish-like vapors appear and disappear, firming up the bouquet.

On the palate, this whisky is sweet and creamy, pleasantly mouth-coating. Custard flavors emerge -- vanilla, and a second helping of that banana pudding.

The finish lingers warmly, butterscotch candies transforming gracefully into spicy red hots.

Water strengthens lemon in the nose and honey on the tongue, but sacrifices some of that rich creaminess.

Highly recommended, especially during these heavy, humid summer nights.

This is my first ever whiskey that I bought and I intended it as my starter kit into the world of whiskey. It wasn't smooth but rather I found it strong at the start. Tonight is my third tasting since it opened. I found it has gotten better and smoother and getting very nice.

Recently I'd visited a local bottle shop trying to find some of the beers I import into Australia and as always to try and find some sweet sweet whisky.

Inside this bottle shop which had nothing redeeming inside of it, except for a little gift pack of three different Glenrothes with some glencairn shotglasses, all for $50 AUS.

This gift pack had a recent Select Reserve, a 1995 Vintage and a 1998 Vintage Glenrothes.

Not too shabby for fifty bucks.

I've tried two of them so far, the Select Reserve (not too shabby) and the 1995 Vintage which left quite a bit to be desired.

Tonight was the Glenrothes 1998 Vintage's turn to come up to the chopping block!

First nose was quite acidic with lots of citrus notes and as I've found with quite a few of the Glenrothes needs time to breath.

After being left to sit for around twenty minutes the acidity eases down and the aromas become clearer.

Vanilla, citrus fruits (but not in the intensity it had been at the start), honey and lemon grass all pop up. It's a decent nose, but definitely not one of my favorite's so far.

There's quite a tart taste with this whisky on first sip which then slowly becomes sweet. Honey appears on the palate along with hints of oak and apples, other fruits that I'm trying to identify, but I swear I'm getting a hint of pear then some spices at the end, specifically cinnamon and some nutmeg.

It's not half bad.

The finish is spicy with cinnamon and nutmeg with vanilla and apples at the very end of the palate.

This is a decent Glenrothes, a fair step up from the 1995 vintage, but still not as enjoyable as the Select Reserve.

It's not too expensive if you can find it, odds are running you around $70 AUS, but you are going to have to try and hunt it down as I've yet to see a full sized bottle in any bottle shop in the city.

This is the newest of the Glenrothes vintages. It is a 10 yrs and 2 mos. old. This is the youngest official bottling that I know of from The Glenrothes, so I was a bit curious about it. It is the first of the vintages that the distillery bottled that was expressly laid down at its origin to be bottled as Glenrothes on maturity, and therefore there is a greater availability of stock than any of the previous bottlings.

This is also Gordon Motion’s first bottling as Malt Master of The Glenrothes, and he describes it as: “It’s said that pictures speak a thousand words and this is like Carmen Miranda’s hat in a bottle. Tropical fruits lead with pineapple and mango developing into sweet bananas, coconut and classic Glenrothes vanilla pods.”

So, it is understandable that this bottle has a bit of "proving" to do.

Nose: Fresh cut grass, lots of nose tingle, very acidic. Not really liking this one. Ouch! Ok, pineapple, in that it is sweet, but tangy sweet. Ginger spice. Immature, malty, very spirity. This is an "active" whisky, and in need of a good time-out. Coming back I'm getting some banana malt.

Body: Light, but not watery.

Palate: Sweet and tangy, with spice on the tongue. Spicy honey?

Finish: Not especially smooth. Medium in length, releasing a nice amount of spice and ripe fruit.

I am disappointed. I had high hopes for this whisky, and special ordered two bottles (one to drink, one to lay up). I am hoping this bottle calms down a bit once it has been opened. Some bottles can improve with a little aeration, and I am hoping this is one of them.

I will be trying this one off and on at different times and circumstances, to see if it can improve somehow. I am just not a big fan of spirited, young whiskies. The depth is missing, only hitting the high notes (if that makes any sense). Where is the toffee? Where is the butterscotch? What happened to the creamy vanilla that The Glenrothes is so known for? Its not here, and that's for sure. I had purposefully avoided the '94, as I was led to believe that bottle had this flavor profile. Now I'm wondering if they got the labels switched, and the '94 is the good one?

This whisky is lightyears away from the '92 or especially the '91. There's an edge to this whisky that is...harsh? Yes. Harsh. It needs about five more years in the cask, I think.

Nose: initially hints of dry flowers, cereals and butter caramel / toffee. Easy to see this is a sibling of the Glenrothes Select Reserve, but with a more refined character. Quite fresh with a slight nuttiness. Notes of vanilla and citrus fruits. Lemon grass. Sweet honey. Mouth: starts gently on honey, fruity marmalade and apple. Quite sweet and vanillated. Some coconut. More depth when the spices kick in (mostly cinnamon). Finish: medium length with a lovely spicy profile (nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla).

This Glenrothes 1998 has more depth than you would expect from a 10 year-old. Not overly complex but fresh and well-made!