I’ve seen a couple of outstanding Glenrothes 1970 releases by Duncan Taylor, DTRA cask #10574 and DTRA cask #10567 for The Nectar. Today we’re having a bottle from the latest Romantique series by The Whisky Agency.

Glenrothes 41 yo 1970 (47,7%, The Whisky Agency ‘Romantique’ 2011, ex-bourbon hogshead, 197 btl.)

Nose: quite brilliant! Lots of fruit jams, tangerine, apricot pie, pineapple. Plenty of honey and touches of beeswax. Hints of vanilla pastry. Some buttercups. After a while it gets a tad more spicy and herbal with mint, soft ginger and thyme. Leather. And even bigger hints of juicy apricots. Mouth: creamy start, still plenty of fruits at first (oranges, banana) with waxy notes. Some coconut. The oak then starts to move forward. It throws in some spices (ginger, soft pepper, gingerbread) but no excessive dryness. Some fruit liqueurs and fruit tea in the end. Finish: long, half spicy, half fruity. Mainly oranges now and oak.

A great Glenrothes that combines a nice fruit basket with balanced oak. Too bad the price has taken quite a hike recently. Around € 235.

Score: 90/100