Glenrothes 12 Years Old 2009 Cask #C21026 (Claxton’s)

Claxton's Warehouse No. 8 series sits within the Yorkshire bottler's numbered warehouse banner system, distinguishing batches of releases over time. The firm presents single casks at natural strength under direct cask identification, drawing from working merchant stocks. This Glenrothes 12 Years Old, distilled in 2009 and bottled in 2021 from cask C21026 at 51.8%, runs to just 68 bottles released into the Netherlands market. The small outturn suggests a hogshead format and notable angel's share evaporation.

Twelve years in a Pedro Ximenez cask sits in the productive middle window for sherry maturation. PX is the heaviest of the sweet sherries: the residual sherry inside an emptied butt carries sugar concentrations above 400 grams per litre, transferring densely to the spirit. European oak's slow tannin and lignin breakdown contribute steadily through vanillin and syringaldehyde, while hemicellulose chemistry builds furfural in the background. The 51.8% strength reflects measured cask environment without aggressive water loss.

The nose carries date and fig with polished oak underneath, the cask's residual PX sherry signature clearly forward. The palate moves through raisin syrup, chocolate orange and a developing rancio, the 51.8% strength giving the cask weight without astringency. Cocoa nib bitterness emerges mid palate as European oak tannins assert themselves. The finish runs long and gently tannic, the PX residual sweetness conceding to the cask's structural close.