The King of the Lowlands is back.

Or so they say of Rosebank Distillery's return. But who really was Rosebank? Was it really that special, or is this some retrospective marketing? And is its revival really a faithful representation of what the distillery once was?

Let's talk about it!

The former Rosebank Distillery.

The once Rosebank distillery was first established at Scotland's Camelon in the Lowlands region in 1840 by one James Rankine, a local wine merchant. Now Rosebank wasn't the first distillery in the area - it wasn't even the first distillery to be named Rosebank - yet these earlier efforts had been shuttered by the time Rankine came along, with the only remaining being the Camelon Distillery which Rankine would eventually purchase for the use of its maltings for his own Rosebank Distillery.

By all accounts, Rankine was a sharp man and knew how to produce great whiskies. The distillery was unique - then and now - in that it was triple distilled (itself pretty uncommon) to produce a more elegant and floral style, and yet employed the use of a worm tub which would give it heft and body. This somewhat contrasting practices meant that Rosebank was both light and aromatic, yet rich and textured, which proved to be quite the hit and the distillery would grow quickly, shipping its whiskies all around the world by the late 1800's. During that time, it would expand and rebuild numerous times to accommodate the strong demand for its so nicknamed King of the Lowlands whiskies. Its architecture too would become a prized local landmark, with its tall red brick chimney towering from along the banks of the canal, and that was visible from most of the town's vantage points - it became a beloved local sight!

Nevertheless Rosebank would eventually become part of a group which was known as the Scottish Malt Distillers, itself eventually becoming part of The Distillers Company, or DCL as it is known to whisky lovers - the precursor to Diageo, one of the world's leading drinks producers. And as we know of Rosebank's story today, the distillery would fatefully meet its closure in 1993 - the reasons given remain rather contentious and runs along the lines of the Scotch industry having faced a glut, with more whiskies being produced than consumed as a result of poor global economics, and in deciding which distilleries to cull (of which there were many, some of whom like Rosebank have become greatly revered since their closures, so much so that they have more recently also been revived), it was decided that another Lowland distillery, Glenkinchie, would be kept instead of Rosebank because of the costly water treatments that was needed to fix up the canal that Rosebank sat by, in order to meet European quality standards. And thus when it came down to keeping just one Lowland distillery for blending purposes, even though Rosebank was at the time thought to be the better whiskymaker, it was also not as efficient scale wise, producing to a smaller capacity - Glenkinchie also happened to sit on a idyllic farmland that seemed a better choice for visitors as opposed to a derelict canal that was Rosebank.

And so 30 years would pass with the Rosebank Distillery still sat there by the canal, simply having gone quiet. Even as times got better, and despite several attempts to revitalise the place, nothing really materialised - it certainly didn't help the fact that over the 2008 Christmas going into the 2009 New Years, the Rosebank stills were stolen by metal thieves and have never been retrieved since. At one point, it almost seemed as though Diageo was well and ready to let go of the Rosebank name even if it did put a new distillery in its place.

The new Rosebank.

Thankfully in 2017 Leonard Russell of Ian Macleod Distillers, the folks who own Glengoyne and Tamdhu distilleries, had come across the site and decided to take it upon the company to revive Rosebank. "I could see that Rosebank Distillery was held in extremely high regard and it was a huge shame that it closed when it was distilling some of the best spirit for the Scotch whisky industry," says Russell. 

Ian Macleod Distillers thus acquired the site and the rights to the Rosebank name (along with some old stock of Rosebank whiskies from before), and began the hard work of bringing back Rosebank. In what feels like quite a refreshing breath of realism, the company has admitted that as much as they endeavour to recreate the signature Rosebank style of whiskies, an identical recreate is just not possible for numerous reasons. "Our aim is to try and produce a spirit which would have similar characteristics to that which was produced historically. Variables in the process, such as barley varieties, yeast strains and modern mashing processes will all have different influences on the final spirit. I would like to think the spirit we are producing is a modern-day reimagining of what the old Rosebank would have been." says Malcolm Rennie, the new Rosebank's distillery manage.

Yet even if the task seems impossible, the Ian Macleod team has clearly put in a great deal of effort to get as close as possible to what Rosebank once was. The team had sought to restore the old building as best as they could (architects Michael Laird would reclaim tons of brick and timber from the original distillery building to be reused) - even through the Covid pandemic - and for what they couldn't keep, they would convert the former warehouse and maltings into a visitor center that's fitted out with six tasting rooms instead, topped off with a glass fronted still house that gives visitors a full view of the copper stills from both inside and outside of the distillery. The team would go so far as to use blueprints of the original Rosebank stills, housed with Diageo's Abercrombie copperworks, to have Forsyths recreate a similar three-still set, along with new wooden washbacks and worm tubs. The only piece of equipment salvaged from the original distillery was a Boby mill that was at least 103 years old, and has of course been put in place for use in the new Rosebank. And thus at least in broad strokes, Rosebank will indeed find new life with its characteristic triple distillation and use of a wormtub. Oh, and that chimney? Also kept in place!

In July 2023, after a tireless half a decade of work restoring the distillery (and reportedly having run over budget at least 3 times), Rosebank Distillery would produce its first spirit, bringing back distilling to Falkirk in over 30 years. The spirit produced at the new Rosebank Distillery would be mostly filled into refill American oak casks, which the distillery believes will allow a more prominent floral character to come through beyond the oak. The barrels are aged on-site and thus far there's been no date set on when we should see Rosebank's first official bottlings of Scotch.

And whilst it might be quite the wait before we get the first proper Scotch from the new Rosebank, what we do have is its new make! This is something I absolutely love about the new generation of distillers today - they're always keen to put out new make which allows us to get a sense of what to expect in terms of the blank-est possible canvas for what whiskies will come through eventually.

So let's give the new Rosebank's New Make a go!

Review: Rosebank New Make Spirit Drink, 63.5% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Clear

Aroma: It opens with heaps of fresh fruit, backed by the usual new make vegetal aromas. On the fruit spectrum, sliced red apples, fresh hawthorn berries, underripe pear and white peach, slightly fleshy even. The vegetal aromas go from sliced zucchini, boiled broccoli and blanched bok choy, all alongside boiled ham and steamed sausages - it's green, fleshy and somewhat meaty and savoury. With time the vegetal qualities overtake the fruity aromas, yet soft florals too begin to emerge with chamomile and dandelion coming through. 

Taste: It's lightly sweet, once again reflecting the fruity aromas of sliced red apples and crushed hawthorn berries, which moves through back to those vegetals of underripe tomatoes, crushed zucchini and blanched greens that only become more present with subsequent tastings. It's followed up by flavours of boiled wheat berries and pearl barley, of a rather porridge-y quality. There's then a slight savouriness akin to cold deli sliced ham that is present throughout yet rather subtle.

Finish: Here the cereal and wheat flavours become more prominent. What starts off with sliced white bread, plain shokupan and unseasoned grits, begins to give way to boiled grains. Longer into the finish, those sliced red apples makes a return, popping in and out on the palate, before being eventually overtaken by the more vegetal flavours of cooked chayote or wintermelon. 

My Thoughts

I found the new make incredibly instructive - it was certainly demonstrated the early innings of that floral and fruity character that wrapped around a richer and denser core. Going beyond the more typical whisky new make character of those stewed vegetals and savoury meatiness - some call it ham hock in vegetable stew - it definitely showcased quite the vibrance of red fruits of apple and hawthorn, and also those delicate florals of dandelion and chamomile, which altogether came through as a sliced fruit platter decked out on cooked greens. It was intense as it was rich, with a rather oily and fuller texture, where then this big cereal quality became more prominent along the way. The fruits, florals and meaty richness are all checked and accounted for - Rosebank seems well on its way!