Rosebank 30 Years Old 1989 Cask #2561 (Connoisseurs Choice)

Single malt Rosebank, an independent Gordon & MacPhail bottling, a 30 year old from 1989, drawn from cask 2561 and bottled at 55%. Just 175 bottles were filled. Rosebank was founded in 1840 by James Rankine on the canal at Camelon, near Falkirk and brought to a halt in 1993. Its triple distilled malt became a Lowland legend.

The spirit was triple distilled and worm tub cooled, the Rosebank way, for a light, ester rich spirit with unusual body. An Oloroso butt held it, sherry meeting the grassy Lowland spirit. Beyond twenty years the malt grows waxy and tropical, marzipan and honey over a soft floral base. Decades in oak build a waxy weight over the elegant Lowland distillate. The malt was matured slowly in the temperate Lowland climate before bottling. Few lost distilleries are mourned, or bottled, as devotedly as Rosebank.

At its natural 55% it is concentrated and honeyed. The Oloroso brings dried fruit, fig and a nutty depth, and vanilla and a light cream from the barrel, with lemon and cut grass. The mouthfeel is gentle, the honey carried on a waxy body. A long, honeyed finish carries a grassy note. This is a vanishing dram from Scotland's most mourned Lowland distillery.