Rosebank 1981 20 Years

DESCRIPTION

The Rare Malts are a now-discontinued series of cask-strength releases designed by Diageo to showcase some of the hidden treasures in their portfolio. This Rosebank is even rarer by virtue of being both a Lowland malt and from a distillery that ceased production in 1993.

TASTING NOTES 

Colour: straw. Nose: ouch! A high-octane malt, with a little lemon indeed but so strong that you can’t really nose it just like that, unless you want to ‘suicide your nostrils’. So, with water (at roughly 45%): lots of lemon indeed (including rubbed zests), fresh mint, moss and fern just like in the Daily Dram, a little paraffin and lamp petrol, wet stones… There’s also a little apple juice, beeswax, heather honey… Quite austere and a little ‘rigid’ but very elegant. Excellent but maybe not for everyone.

Nose: ouch! A high-octane malt, with a little lemon indeed but so strong that you can’t really nose it just like that, unless you want to ‘suicide your nostrils’. So, with water (at roughly 45%): lots of lemon indeed (including rubbed zests), fresh mint, moss and fern just like in the Daily Dram, a little paraffin and lamp petrol, wet stones… There’s also a little apple juice, beeswax, heather honey… Quite austere and a little ‘rigid’ but very elegant. Excellent but maybe not for everyone.

Mouth (neat): more drinkable than noseable at such high strength, very lemony, but let’s not play with our palate. With water: yes, it’s excellent, very elegant, very close to the Daily Dram now. Maybe a little spicier, with more pepper, and certainly less ‘tropically fruity’.

Great, long finish, on lemon and high-end green tea, with quite some pepper. Another excellent Rosebank, just a tad less complex than the new Daily Dram. 88 points.

PRODUCT SUMMARY