Glenrothes 24 Years Old 1996 Cask #4296 (Silver Seal)

Silver Seal Whisky Company is an Italian Swiss independent bottler with a long history of releasing themed series under collectible labels. The Capsule Collection's Faces of Whisky line dedicates individual releases to industry figures, with this edition selected by or celebrating Mark Watt, a well known whisky industry personality. This Glenrothes 24 Years Old, distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2020 from cask 4296 at 52.9%, runs to just 99 bottles released into the event market.

Fino sherry is the lightest and freshest of the sherry styles, aged entirely under a flor yeast layer that prevents oxidation. The cask itself arrives without the oxidised chemistry that defines Oloroso or PX casks, instead carrying the biological residue of flor ageing: aldehydes, esters and a saline mineral note. Twenty four years in a Fino cask is a long maturation for such a light style sherry wood, with the spirit driven mainly by distillery character and slow lignin breakdown rather than aggressive cask chemistry.

The nose lifts a saline mineral lift with fresh apple, honey and a faint flor derived savoury note. The palate moves through cooked pear, salted almond and a clean vanilla pod note, the 52.9% strength delivering the cask's biological residue without overwhelming the spirit. The finish is medium long and slightly briny, the Fino's saline signature leaving a distinctive close rather than the dried fruit grip of an Oloroso ageing.