A very dark Glenrothes 1997 which you immediately see the sherry influence. There is no doubt about that! This is a Glenrothes from the independent bottler Whiskybroker. The releases from Whiskybroker have a good price and the quality is most of the time quite good as well, but I still have to be surprised by that one release that knocks my socks off. Let’s see if this is the one.

This glenrothes has matured in a sherry butt and is bottled in 2016 at 53,5% ABV. (Cask no. 7157).

Glenrothes 1997 tasting notes:

Nose: Bam! Sherry and a lot of sherry. Not sure if I can find the Glenrothes profile. A little bit musty, quite a simple whisky. Don’t get much out of the nose. It seems watered down a bit and not at original cask strength. A little bit of chocolate influence but that is basically it. Can’t find any of the dried fruits I would expect with this kind of darkness. A faint sulfur smell and a bit sour too.

Taste: Now that is a nice surprise! Sweet, chocolate, dried fruits. Nice, wouldn’t expect that after that nose. This is actually pretty good. Love the chocolate influence in this one, although it does lack some fruitiness. I do get a bit of fruits but it lacks power. A good winter dram. I think it would work quite well with some Christmas pudding. With water the fruits are more dominant. I like this better, the oakiness and bitternes is gone and it does have more to offer.

Finish: The finish is mid-long, a bit of an oak bite to it. Also you can find a bit of pepper in there and again cacao / dark chocolate.

Overall I am not enjoying the nose, the taste is making up for that. A fairly decent finish. Based on the release price it’s actually a very decent dram. But I wouldn’t go nuts on trying to get Glenrothes 1997. The nose is putting me a bit off, that might because I am not a big fan of this kind of profiles and heavy sherried whiskies but I did have a lot better sherried drams.