Rosebank 21

We fell in love with Rosebank about six years ago. On a cruise with the boys there was a great whisky bar, called Maltings, and every night we ordered a round of some genre of whisky -- some nights exploring new malts; other nights we tried bourbons or ryes. There was a Rare Malts bottling of 18 year old Rosebank, about which we really knew nothing at all. Not yet educated by Jackson, knowing only those whiskies to which we had been introduced at tastings around town, we had never heard of this lowland malt, which was even then out of production for well over a decade.

But after the first taste, we were hooked. John loved it so much that regardless of what we had drunk earlier in the evening, before retiring each night, he would stop back at Maltings, and order a glass of Rosebank for a nightcap. To our dismay, however, once the cruise ended, and we were back on dry land, there was precious little Rosebank to be found. Keens had a couple offerings, but it wasn’t long before Rosebank disappeared from their list. The boys managed to find a bottle at Federal, and Ben tracked one down here in town, but aside from the sherry aged Gordon & MacPhail, which we have learned to appreciate, but which really tastes more like a highland malt than a typical lowland, there was none to be had. G-Man was given a bottle last summer by a friend returning from Scotland, but I came to doubt that any more Rosebank could be located, except perhaps at auction, here in the States.

Until last week that is, when I discovered that singlemaltsdirect.com will ship whisky into the U.S. I’ll talk more about that in my next posting, but suffice it to say that last night I opened a bottle of 21 year old Rosebank, cask strength, 53.8%, classic malts bottling. And to paraphrase Rudy, I’ve been ready for this whisky all my life.

Rosebank always has a beautiful floral bouquet, but whether from the age, or the fact that it’s cask strength, the nose here is more aromatic than any other whisky I can recall. I can never pick out all those fragrances – you know, lavender and citrus and cherry and all that stuff. All I know is that it smells delicious. And the taste – even more so. At full strength, the whisky is sweet; entirely lacking in smoke, almost no malt, just sweet, like honey. But because it’s Rosebank, there is a peppery bite underneath that sweetness, kind of like a drop of cayenne in the bottom of the glass. I preferred this Rosebank at close to full strength, maybe with a few drops of water, but not really diluted. That way, all the intensity of the flavor seemed to explode in my mouth, almost overpowering my taste buds.

Another nice characteristic of this whisky is the buttery mouth feel. Soft, luxurious, and a great compliment to the explosion of sweetness on the palate. Again, that texture was most noticeable at full strength, another reason why not to water this scotch too much. Lastly, there is a long gracious finish, always a sign of a great whisky. I mean, it just goes on and on. It doesn’t want to quit.

Rosebank is gone; a ‘grievous loss’ according to Jackson. And unlike some other mothballed malts, it’s not coming back. Some real estate developers have turned the distillery grounds into offices or residence, or maybe even a shopping mall. I don’t want to know. The upshot is that there has been no new Rosebank distilled for two decades, and whatever continues to exist in warehouses, or barrels, is slowly but surely disappearing from this world. But at least for the time being, I know that I’ll have the chance to enjoy this heavenly whisky for a little while longer here on earth.