SMWS 30.81 - "A baker's delight"

Glenrothes went through a "more sherry, sir?" phase with their Own Bottlings in the early 2000's that I have vivid recollections of. Mostly because I wasn't getting on well with sherry at that time. Luckily, they have an excellent spirit which thrives in almost any cask. This example is bourbon, so I'm not really sure why it reminds me that they do well in sherry - maybe that leather note?

(And yes, I got over the sherry thing and stopped throwing up whenever I drank it. No idea what caused it, happy it's stopped, not going to discuss it any further.)

23 years old, distilled 24th September 1990, 56.0% abv, refill ex-bourbon hogshead, 206 bottles

The nose has Danish pastries, apricots and golden syrup. The body is very sweet - apricot, mango, peaches, caramelised sugar. The only non-sweet note is leathery. The mouth-feel is sharp and thin. The finish is quite slight, with a buttery note on top of citrus.

After water (which provides tight whorling), the nose has a bit more vanilla. The body is creamy, a much smoother mouth-feel, and the leathery note has now gone - the body is fruits (as before) and butterscotch. The finish is a bit longer, but otherwise unchanged.

A very enjoyable dram, which I will enjoy returning to to check my notes... (Just a few times. Honest.)

4/5