Glenrothes 1961 Rare Old Gordon and MacPhail

Glenrothes Select Reserve

This is the standard NAS bottling of Glenrothes - or at least, it used to be as I'm not sure they make this anymore (it's not on their website). Most official Glenrothes bottlings are vintage releases; apparently this is a mix of different vintages, rather than just a super-young throwaway. This comes from a 100ml mini I got at auction. The colour...

Score 86/100

Glenrothes 1968 35 Year Old

In 1965 my parents arrived in Australia from Italy. Three years after their arrival in 1968, when my Dad was eight years old and watched the first moon landing a year later with no doubt astonished eyes, the Glenrothes distillery in Scotland distilled and placed in oak casks the whisky I am about to taste. This whisky then sat in Speyside for 35...

Score 90/100

Glenrothes 1988 vintage

The nose is spicy with fruit overtones, a little brash for a 20 year old, but fairly complex with sweetness of vanilla and a touch of oak. The pallet is creamy sweet that moves in to spice on the finish which lasts a while with a touch of orange rind. The sherry is rather pronounced in this expression but not over the top. While I tend to like...

Score 88/100

Glenrothes 25 Year Old 1988 Sansibar

Most Glenrothes spirit sleeps on sherry casks, but this independent bottling by the German Sansibar is a bourbon cask, a quarter of a century old and bottled at cask strength. The nose is intense and ‘yellow’, if you know what I mean. A slice of pineapple, some yellow apples and yellow flowers. Elderflower too! Soms melon. Loads of vanille and...

Score 82/100