Rosebank 15 Years Old

An official Rosebank single malt matured to 15 year old, and bottled at 50%. Just 13596 bottles were filled. The Lowland Rosebank, built in 1840 on the canal at Camelon, near Falkirk, was brought to a halt in 1993. After closure the site fell derelict, and thieves even took the copper stills in 2008.

The spirit was triple distilled and worm tub cooled, the Rosebank way, for the refined Lowland style quite its own. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, lending honey and vanilla under the grass. Past a decade and a half the florals deepen into honey and soft tropical fruit. Long, cool Lowland maturation lets the floral spirit take oak slowly over many years. Few lost distilleries are mourned, or bottled, as devotedly as Rosebank. Laid down before 1993, this is spirit from a distillery silent for three decades. History on the site runs back to the Stark brothers in 1798, before Rankine's 1840 distillery.

At a natural 50% it is full and expressive. Vanilla and a light cream from the barrel runs under gooseberry and fresh grass. A beeswax and a tropical fruit give it real depth. Marzipan and citrus see out a long finish. This is one of the great ghost whiskies of the Lowlands.