In a previous post I tried some of Scotland newest distilleries. Now we go back in time, to distilleries lost to time.
Or so one might have thought. Rosebank distillery, “King of the lowlands”, was mothballed in my birth year of 1993. Ever so rarely, some old stock of this iconic, flowery spirit would find its way to market through independent bottlers. Then in 2017 the site was bought by Ian Macleod Distillers, reconstruction started in 2019, and in 2023 cask 001 of the revived distillery was laid to rest in the warehouse. Here, I have a sample from 1991:
Rosebank 💀 | 16yo (1991) | 43% | Gordon & MacPhail
🌐
🪵
🔆
💲
🔗
Scotch single malt
refill sherry & American casks
colouring/filtering unclear
~€500 (EU, ’24); 2cl sample from Bühler for €18
Sample review (2cl)
⚡Experience
Orchard fruits and flowers. Nectarine, lemon, green tea, vanilla. Palate is not very sweet; slightly bitter and dry in a quinine way. The alcohol feels more like 53% than 43% — quite prickly and spicy. Fruits and flowers still shine through, backed by a certain meaty/musky heft, but they offering very specific flavour notes for me. With time and water becomes a bit soapy. Short-medium finish.
💡Thoughts
Having read about Rosebank, I know it’s supposed to smell and taste lavender. It’s not a note I’m very experienced with and can pick out easily from a ‘flowers’ more generally. The nose is really quite nice, but the taste feels like the dram is not entirely holding together and delivering to the full potential. I think a dry/bitter/savoury profile can definitely work, but there needs to be more punch in the flavours and better integrated alcohol to . Still, I enjoyed it!
Oh, and the price is just for the hype of closed distillery. In terms of value, I’d say this could justify maybe €60, but also is a little bit of an oddball that may not fly with everyone.
Worthwhile and Enjoyable
Between its founding 1863 and demolishion 1991, Banff had an interesting and at time turbulent history, and much of the distillery has at several times burned or exploded. A nazi bomber took out one of the warehouses in 1941, destroying much stock, some of which supposedly seeped into the local water and intoxicated animals. Poor buggers. In sympathy of their suffering, let’s try some Banff.
Banff 💀 | 20yo (1980) | 43% | Signatory Vintage
🌐
🪵
🔆
💲
🔗
Sample review (2cl)
⚡Experience
Lemon curd, soft meringue, elderflower, hot beach sands, coastal spray, slight smoke. Light taste, the low ABV is apparent here. Low-medium sweet, just slightly bitter. Bready, flowery, apple-y, and just a hint of smoke.
💡Thoughts
It’s nice, rather subtle dram, especially the nose. The 43% is a detriment here, though. At 20yo one would want a bit more body. If this was an open distillery, I’d say €100 would be a fair asking price in the current market, but I personally would not pay nearly that.
Worthwhile and Enjoyable
The history of Glen Mhor must be very interesting, because some guy made a very informative website and runs a podcast about this lost distillery. What passion! For now, my passion starts and end in tasting the whisky, but do check out the the links if you crave a deep dive into Scotch history.
Glen Mhor 💀 | 33yo (1975) | 40.2% | Duncan Taylor
🌐
🪵
🔆
💲
🔗
Sample review (2cl)
⚡Experience
We’re immediately in tropical territory (papaya and mango, melon, lemon grass and kaffir lime), some tiger balm; not so bold, rather restrained. Light dunnage warehouse and vanilla/margarine notes. Sweet, savoury, creamy palate, with fruity, but none too specific flavour notes. A hint of nutmeg.
💡Thoughts
It’s nice, but for a 33yo it’s not really tapping into any qualities that I could not find in a cheaper and younger whisky. On paper €200 would be the expected price if this were an un-hyped, open distillery. Actually, it’s probably not so hyped, but it is closed. So seeing it go for €400 at auction is actually less than I’d thought. But then again, as an experience it’s not nearly worth the money.
Worthwhile and Enjoyable
Three very delicate drams, both in terms of the profile and the condition of the whisky, being old vintages that were also bottle 1-2 decades ago. Reassures me that the samples don’t go bad quite as fast I I feared, if they’re stored right, with tight screwcaps and plastic seal.
Title image credit: glenmhorwhisky.com
DuckDrams 
Leave a reply to Ghost safari #1 – DuckDrams Cancel reply