Glenrothes 2007 C&S Dram & 1990 SMOS Reviews

Hi everyone,

I haven’t actually reviewed a load of Glenrothes, although I think of it as the Highland Park of the Highlands without the smoke. It works well in Sherry or Bourbon and shares some characteristics with Macallan too, meaning that it matures damn well.

Today I’ve got two indies for y’all:

Glenrothes 2007 C&S Dram 47.9%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Sherry, golden raisin, heather and malt, red apple, orange, very slightly sulphury giving a meatiness, ethereal spirit with green apple, fresher as it develops.

Taste: Sweet, Sherry, orange, then more Macallan-like with golden raisin, malt, heather, honey and chocolate. Some cinnamon and icing too. Black pepper into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. A little bit of dark chocolate and harsh spirit. Quite spirity here.

Bottled 2018 at 11yo. Again, thanks to Andrea for sharing some of his whisky. Shame about the spirity finish on this one but it would still be easy to mistake this for a Macallan.

74/100

 

Glenrothes 1990 Single Malts of Scotland 44.8%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Juicy and fresh, lots of fresh juicy pear, green apple, clean, little of the dark flavours I was expecting, melon and watermelon, toffee and butterscotch.

Taste: Fresh, juicy and light, beautifully balanced and building slow and gradual going from pear, green apple and lemon to malt, heather and delicious dark chocolate and leather.

Finish: Long length. Dark chocolate hit then fades gradually with malt and heather.

Bottled 2017 at 26yo, The palate is the star here, really good. Its amazing how this has retained the freshness at this older age while still being interesting.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #724-#725

Whisky Network Reviews #862-#863

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glenrothes Vintage Reserve Review

Hi everyone,

A quick Glenrothes today.

I've only tasted 2 others but the profile strikes me as a Highland Park without the smoke.

This is an NAS at 40%, but according to Whisky Exchange this is a marriage of 10 vintages from 1989 to 2007.

Glenrothes Vintage Reserve 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: A classic Glenrothes, full of heather and honey, Highland Park-esque Sherry, orange peel and marmalade. A bit of ginger, vanilla and a lovely strawberry cheesecake note after a minute.

Taste: Quite full actually, honey, heather, a little spice, ginger, a little pepper then some orange. Some oak builds into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. Drying oak and an unexpected metallic note- Copper.

Decent but there's a little harsh ginger that brings it down. The strawberry on the nose is gorgeous though, I'm such a sucker for strawberry.

71/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #327

Whisky Network Review #361

Network Average: 74.5

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glenrothes 1992 2nd Ed. Review

Hi everyone,

Got a quick Glenrothes today. I find their range a bit odd because most of their stuff is NAS with strange names on, but once you get to the vintage stuff the price goes up so much as to make me never want to bother trying any. Luckily, at the whisky show you could try loads you wouldn’t normally get to.

Glenrothes 1992 44.2%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Lovely rich Sherry, sweet honey, heather, raisin, Sherry spice.

Taste: Rich, heather, honey, then more Sherry, raisin, more dry then with oak and coffee.

Finish: Medium length. Dry oak and dried heather.

OB bottled 2014, 22yo. Like a Highland Park 12 without the smoke. This is nice but a little too oaky and not enough of anything else to give it any higher than…

74/100

Review #259

Network Average: 76.0

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Glenrothes 1997 Signatory Unchillfiltered Review

Hello everyone,

Another Signatory today.

The Unchillfiltered Collection has left me very impressed, I think all the ones I've scored so far are in the high 70's, which is a good score from me. This was the only exception.

Glenrothes 1997 Signatory Unchillfiltered 46%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Sweet and malty. Very nutty with dry Sherry and oak, heather honey, thick caramel and toffee, some coffee beans, orange chocolate. Autumnal.

Water: More waxy, a little herbal leafiness.

Taste: Smooth and gentle, quite sweet with Sherry, building nut, malt, a little sour lemon, then strong oak coming through with dark chocolate bitterness.

Water: More slow building but still very oaky.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Quite bitter with strong oak and +85% chocolate. A little burnt note too.

Bottled 2014 at 17yo. Single cask 9225. Reminds me of Highland Park without the smoke. a little over oaked for me, but still good.

71/100

Review #83

Network Average: 76.8

Best Score: 91

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent