Glenrothes 22 Years Old 1996 Cask #15114 (Signatory)

Cask 15114 belongs to Signatory Vintage's 1996 Glenrothes filling, sitting alongside other casks from the same distillation in the Cask Strength Collection. The line presents long aged single casks at natural strength from the firm's Edradour warehousing. This Glenrothes 22 Years Old, distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2018 from cask 15114 at 55.4%, runs to 256 bottles released into the German market.

Twenty two years in a refill bourbon cask produces a profile fundamentally led by distillery character. The cask's first fill activity exhausted under previous tenancy, the wood contributes through accumulated secondary chemistry: lignin's slow breakdown delivers syringaldehyde and vanillin at attenuated levels, lactones produce coconut and creamy oak through cumulative contact, and ellagitannins build structure gradually. The cask's interesting interplay between new and old wood notes signals different stages of the wood's chemistry layered onto the spirit.

On the nose, citric lift sits with malt extract, the cask presenting both new wood freshness and old wood resin in interesting contrast. Vanilla pod and fresh apple thread through. The palate moves through cooked pear, lemon curd and a clean toasted oak undertone, with 55.4% strength delivering distillery character with measured cask interference. The finish is long and softly drying, the cask's accumulated chemistry leaving the spirit's preserved Speyside fruit clearly framed.