Glenrothes 12 Year (2007) SMWS 30.111 “Inferno toffee pudding”

Review by: The Muskox

Here in Toronto we’ve gotten an entire winter’s worth of snow and freezing temperatures compressed into the last week and a half, so I figured this Glenrothes would serve as a good cockle-warmer.

Distillery: Glenrothes

Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 64.6%. Cask Strength.

Age: 12 years. Distilled in June 2007. Bottled in 2019.

Cask type: First-fill Spanish oak sherry butt.

Price: N/A, sample.

Color: Dark amber. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Nose: Deep and spicy. Lots of caramelized sweet notes of crème brulee and toffee. Toasted spice notes of allspice, cloves, and sandalwood, with an earthy cumin-y bite. Some creamy vanilla and fragrant honey. Raisins, plums, and subtle citrus.

Adding enough water to bring this down to around 50% or so, there’s more woody complexity and slightly juicier fruit notes of cherries and plums.

Palate: Medium texture. Very drinkable neat. Arrives with raisins, plums, orange, and candied ginger. Deep leathery and oaky flavours as it develops, with darker burnt sugar building almost to a woodsmoke note. Lots of juicy plums and black cherries.

Water didn’t seem to change all that much. A bit more maple syrup and charred oak.

Finish: Long and toasty-sweet. A surprisingly light stonefruit note peeks out from under the toasted sugar. Baking chocolate, cloves, and more candied ginger.

With water things are mostly the same, but with stronger maple syrup.

Possible SMWS bottling name: “Mystery of the exploding sugarbush”

Conclusion: I couldn’t improve much on SMWS’s name for this bottling. This is pretty great for what it is. Lovely toastiness and good complexity without the sherry reaching annoying levels of heat. It’s stupefyingly drinkable at full strength, but the water does take a little bit of the edge off in a nice way. It’s the best sherry monster I’ve had in quite a while.

Final Score: 87.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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