Glenrothes 23 Years Old 1995 Cask #909700 (LMDW)

La Maison du Whisky's Artist series is the Paris specialist retailer's themed bottling programme, using contemporary art on the labels to distinguish individual releases. Artist #8 marks the eighth release in the series, sub-titled Sherry to indicate the cask style. LMDW has operated as the leading French specialist whisky retailer since 1956. This Glenrothes 23 Years Old, distilled in 1995 and bottled in 2018 from cask 909700 at 52.8%, runs to 530 bottles released into European markets.

Twenty three years in a single Oloroso cask sits firmly in the long extractive window for sherry maturation. The cask's first fill activity has tapered, with secondary extractions of lignin and hemicellulose dominating: syringaldehyde, vanillin and eugenol alongside furfural from hemicellulose chemistry. The residual Oloroso sherry's sotolon contributes the savoury walnut backbone characteristic of long aged sherry, with ellagitannins structuring the spirit through accumulated cask interaction.

On the nose, fig and raisin sit with polished oak underneath, the cask's developed sherry signature clearly forward. The palate moves through dark chocolate, dried prune and a developing leathery quality as rancio takes hold, with 52.8% strength delivering the cask's accumulated chemistry without astringency. Cocoa nib bitterness emerges mid palate. The finish runs long and tannic, European oak holding the spirit's Speyside fruit in tight balance against the cask's oxidative chemistry.