Glenrothes 1998 Vintage, b.2009, 43% abv.

This is Gordon Motion’s first bottling as Malt Master after John Ramsay retired. Supposedly initially bottled for Asia, but it seems like it was released in Asia first only. A combination of Oloroso sherry and ex-Bourbon casks.

Nose: bad side of lemon drops, some fruit flavored cough syrup, has a sharp aroma of some sort, weird cinnamon, old berries.

Palate: another strange one? mid palate is sharp, white pepper and old fruit, back palate is also sharp, old cherry syrup. All on the sharp sour and strange side.

Finish: long on the first few sips but transitions to one of moderate length, wood emphasis, and later to baked old cherries.

Overall similar to the Naked Grouse, very not enjoyable. Very few redeeming qualities, sharp on nose and on the tongue, with weird old fruit, a long finish on bad flavors is not good. Totally all the wrong combinations in my opinion. Noticed other Glenrothes OBs didn't fare too well in online tasting notes. Not sure why the fan base is so white-on-rice for Glenrothes.

Grade: F

Whiskyfun.com, Serge, sgp:421, 84 points
Malt maniacs, Ho-cheng Yao, 86 points
The whiskyphiles, Barry Bradford, 84/100
Whisky advocate, John Hansell, 85 points
Whiskynotes, Ruben Luyten, 84/100
Lawhiskeysociety, Tim, C

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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