An OB single cask Glenrothes? we do not see many of these, although this year we’ve seen a few pop up… At 67.1% , and a sherry cask, this is one monstrous dram, and a very fitting way to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Abbey Whisky. As you well know I am a big fan of big sherried cask strength Glenrothes, and quite a critic of their regular OBs which are colored, and diluted, and are all quite boring. This one looked fab, and I did have some high expectations building on Adelphi IBs which were crackers…
Glenrothes 2006 – single cask 5469 , 67.1% , £69.95 (Abbey Whisky)
Nose: Big and robust with a lot of toffee and caramel candy, along with a bounty of red fruit, and Xmas cake & ginger biscuits. This is one hell of a dram at this ABV. Quite a lot of sherry is going on here, with a lot of wood, and wood spice (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg), musty dunnage warehouses and hints of sour wine vinegar. this was one active cask!
Palate: Lovely mouth feel on this one: sweeter than the nose, with a big dollop of sherry , thick sultana juices, big caramel candy, toffeed apples, Xmas cakes – it has got it all. Sweet, hedonistic and chew able, with an additional note of pepper, wood spices, and mint. Juicy. Oily. Fab.
Finish: Bitter sweet, with BBQ-ed banana (a little burnt maybe) , dry oak, wood tannins, earth.
Summary:
This is very good stuff. rich, thick, complex, bold and powerful, everything you expect from a CS, sherried Glenrothes and then some… At 70 quid it’s also well priced for what you get. An easy buy, and quite surprising this has not sold out sooner…
Recommended.