GLENROTHES 19 year old 1997 – Claxton’s

I recently had the great pleasure of sitting down with Adrian from Claxton’s independent bottlers to have a chat about the company, the background and what might be in store  in the future.. The first thing that struck me was the passion for whisky and the company and of course being a Yorkshire man his pride for the county the company is based in.  The name behind the company (Claxton’s )  is of course the family name and as is the case in most company’s it was the most obvious after 100’s of names had been offered up. The company has plenty of ambition and has now released 9 single casks during its first year and has plans to hopefully triple that into the second year and onwards, as well as this Adrian was adamant that they will only release casks of high quality and casks that the family will be proud to put their name on.. if the casks are not available then they will not panic buy !  As well as this Adrian tells me that when buying casks they only buy what fits a Pacific profile and not by the distillery name which is good to hear..

During the conversation Adrian reached down into his bag and offered up a few samples from some up coming casks,  and the one that instantly got me intrigued was this Glenrothes 19yo from 1997, hailing from one first fill PX sherry butt, you know it got my attention as most people that know I have a passion for good sherried expressions,  so as soon as I got home I had to give this a nose which only made me more determined to do this review sooner than later..

Distillery..  Glenrothes

Region.. Speyside

Age.. 19years

Abv.. 53.7%

Distilled.. 28-4-1997

Bottler.. Claxton’s
This single barrel is of course NCF and natural colour which in my book ticks every box.. I am not one to normally mention colour but this has such a lovely darkness to it..

Nose.. Where do I start.. You are just drawn in with rich dark fruits, dates, raisins, figs and the finest Turkish delight , welcome to the party.  Rich dark chocolate, tobacco, liquorice along with peaches, plums drizzled in honey and orange peel give this a fruity side that mingles with vanilla, caramel and a dark toffee note that glides  in with an elegant swagger..

Palate.. This really is quite elegant.. Those dark fruits mix perfectly with soft vanilla and subtle oak notes,  tobacco and rich dark chocolate mixes with the finest coffee and candied orange notes  give this a real thick chewy texture.

Finish.. Dry, long and makes you all fuzzy inside.

Thoughts.. I really can’t find any faults with this sherry bomb. The balance is perfect, there is no dominant flavour or scent and everything just rolls together with style.. I must have spent a couple of hours just nosing this and trying to make it last longer but alas it’s now all gone and as they say actions talk louder than words so I will be buying a bottle of this ASAP.. This is not actually released but once it is you know where I’m heading !!

My appreciation goes out to Adrian and everyone from Claxton’s for this sample..

The Glenrothes 19, 1997 from Claxtons.