Rosebank 1981 25 Year Old

Nose, Taste, Finish and Balance are graded out of 2.5 each:

Nose: It sounds almost too obvious, but there's immediately a distinct smell of roses - roses planted on a lush bed of smokey earth. It's all roses, then the smoke comes in, and suddenly out of nowhere we have chocolate truffle, of the fruit liqueur variety. Once we get through that, suddenly it's dried dates - this never ends! A Mary Poppins bag of scents if ever there was one. 2.5

Taste: So delicate. It's as if the rose petals caress your tongue, and then release the aroma oils and smoke. The late great whisky writer Michael Jackson wrote that Rosebank was a whisky for lovers, and one can see what he means. 2.0

Finish: Strangely, this whisky seems to be all in the nose and the finish. The taste on the tongue seems to be more a relaxing massage in the interval between the two main acts. First there's the wave of smoke, followed by a rich orange spice, before we find ourselves back with the sumptuous chocolate truffle. Of course, the grand finale of this second act has to be left to the delicate rose, softly wafting over the final notes. Unexpectedly however, and out of nowhere, an encore of ginger appears at the last - this performance seems never to end!! Needless to say the crowd are in raptures. 2.5

Balance: I had never tried a Rosebank prior to this tasting, one which I savoured in the Caley Bar in Edinburgh, on a flying visit to the film festival there. In the past years, I've read countless rave reviews about Rosebank, and many tales of broken hearts, as this now long-closed distillery slowly disappears into history. I have to say there's nothing more awe-inspiring as when something that's so hyped up actually lives up to its billing. If anything it exceeded my expectations. Much like watching an iconic beauty of 1950's cinema, one can still fall in love with the actress on the screen, however the romance associated with the by-gone era in which she existed only serves to accentuate her allure, and this is very much the case with this Rosebank. An iconic beauty in every sense. 2.5

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