The Glenrothes Vintage 1998 is a deep, structured and complex malt whisky.
In 1879 something new, beautifully crafted and pure entered the world: the first spirit from the stills at The Glenrothes.
That’s a while ago now, but this exceptional Single Speyside Malt whisky has been kept pretty much a secret from those outside the industry and a small band of connoisseurs for over a hundred years. But word gets out and once discovered this is a malt people enjoy, and seem to want to share with likeminded folk. We think that it's exceptional and of course we would - and it seems other people increasingly think so too.
And so now’s the time and here’s the place for you to discover The Glenrothes, share the news and share this malt with likeminded people.
The Glenrothes Distillery sits beside the Burn of Rothes in the heart of Speyside – the area of the Scottish Highlands universally acknowledged as the heartland of malt distillation. Our private spring, “The Fairies’ (or Lady’s) Well”, is in the nearby Glen of Dounie, and all the land surrounding this vital source is owned and protected by the distillery.
Distillation began at Glenrothes on Sunday, December 28th 1879. In 1896 the distillery was expanded as demand from blenders grew for this increasingly prized malt whisky. 100 years after the founding, new stills were installed, in 1979.
Since its opening, the distillery was recognised as one of the best; the whisky one of the most sought after on Speyside. The structure, flavour and body of The Glenrothes makes it a ‘top dresser’ or quality enhancer found at the heart of some of the world’s finest blends such as Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse. Expert distillers and blenders claim that it produces one of the finest and most accomplished of malt whiskies.
The distillery is not open to the general public although sometimes special guests are invited to Rothes House and to visit the distillery.
To enjoy The Glenrothes fully requires engaging all of your senses, starting with the sound of the cork being popped from the bottle.
The Vintage 1998 is the next Core Vintage to follow the Vintage 1991 and 1994. It is the first of the vintages that we have bottled that was expressly laid down at origin to be bottled as Glenrothes on maturity and as such has a greater availability of stock than any of the previous bottlings.
This is also Gordon Motion's first bottling as Malt Master and he describes it as: "It's said that pictures speak a thousand words and this is like Carmen Miranda's hat in a bottle. Tropical fruits lead with pineapple and mango developing into sweet bananas, coconut and classic Glenrothes vanilla pods."
