SMWS 30.77 This is nuts!

By Barry Bradford on December 31, 2014 • ( Leave a comment )

Glenrothes 16 Years Old 1997 30.77 This is nuts! (57.7%, SMWS, Refill Sherry Butt, 775 Bottles, 2013)

Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
Origin: Glenrothes distillery
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Cask 30.77
ABV: 57.7%
Cost: £55.80

What they say

We were greeted by a sweet and nutty aroma; toffee doughnuts, sticky toffee pudding, fruit and nut fudge and toasted tea cakes. Someone compared the initial taste neat to a bicycle puncture repair kit, but soon to be followed by a wonderful oily and waxy flavour of chocolate raisins, orange oil, marzipan, almonds and strawberry liqueur. With water the nutty notes are jumping out of the glass; Brazil, macadamia, pecan, walnut, hazelnut and dry roasted peanuts, but there is also a sweet and savoury note like oatcakes with liver pate on a raspberry coulis. The taste now dry, chalky and slightly salty with flavours of sour cream pretzels, plum chutney, malt vinegar and in the finish an old Amontillado Sherry.

Drinking tip: Ideal with a ploughman’s lunch

Pair with…Duck breasts, carmelised onions and orange

Date Distilled: 17 April 1997 Colour: Marmalade Age: 16 years Flavour : Deep, rich & fruity Cask Type: Refill ex-sherry butt Whisky Region: Speyside Spey

775 bottles

What I say

Sampled on the WOLS Highland trip Fall 2014, thanks to Simeon for providing this amongst several bottles. This is a 16 year old very over-sherried Glenrothes (SMWS distillery #30)

My tasting notes:

Colour: Dark copper red
Nose: Balsamic and sherry vinegar, pickled walnuts, Christmas pudding, dried fruits, figs, prunes, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise spices, brandy, molasses and caramelised brown sugar, pecan and maple syrup
Taste: Acidic vinegary on the nose like red wine or sherry balsamic vinegar, after this initial assault the fruit and nut of the sherry comes out but again it is pickled walnuts and pecans, plus sherry or brandy drenched dried fruits, fig, prune, raisin, intense and mouth-puckering, eventually a concentrated sweetness comes out with maple syrup and molasses
Finish: Long sherry vinegar, some fruit and nut chocolate bar

Overall

Intense and sadly not all to my liking, I love sherried whisky and up until this one I would have said the more-sherried the better. This cask has gone over to the vinegary/oxidized dark-side and I’m not sure water redeemed it either. Without the acidity there was plenty of great old-sherried notes kicking around in here but it was a real fight trying to find them. Challenging sums it up!