Glenrothes 2007-2019 - 11 Year Old - Mossburn - Batch 26

Glenrothes is a much-loved Speyside distillery with a couple of notable claims to fame, namely that it was the keystone malt for Berry Bros & Rudd’s Cutty Sark blend from its launch in the 1920s and in the 1990s became the first distillery to specialise in vintage single malt releases. 

Founded in 1879, Glenrothes was expanded three times between 1963 and 1989, bringing the total number of stills to ten with a hefty production capacity of over 5.5m litres per year. The spirit seems to perform best with medium to long term maturation in sherry casks.

After sporadic old vintage releases in the 1970s under Highland Distillers (later fully acquired by Edrington), Glenrothes launched a core range of vintage single malts in 1994. A string of terrific vintage releases followed, including some astonishing 1960s casks. Although the vintage range has now been dropped, Glenrothes is remarkably consistent - just about any sherried release over 15 years old is likely to be terrific whisky.

Mossburn Distillers is an independent distiller and bottler founded by drinks importers and bottlers Marussia Beverages (formerly known as Eaux de Vie). Mossburn’s first bottlings appeared in 2017 and the company now releases small batch single malt whiskies as Mossburn Vintage Casks and a range of regional blended malt whiskies known as Mossburn Signature Casks. The company also bottle Caisteal Chamuis, a heavily-peated blended malt whisky.

Mossburn commenced distilling at their Torabhaig distillery in 2017, becoming the second legal distillery on the Isle of Skye. Torabhaig’s spirit is smoky, with the style described as ‘Well Tempered Peat’. Torabhaig's first single malt whisky appeared in 2021, by which time distilling had begun at Mossburn’s second distillery, The Reivers in the Lowlands. Reivers is a multi-purpose experimental distillery, primarily making single grain whisky but also acting as a product development hub. Plans are afoot for a third, larger distillery, provisionally titled Mossburn.