Glenrothes The MacPhail's Collection - 8yrs

I finally succumbed to my curiosity, and finally bought the young 8yr Glenrothes whisky bottled by Gordon & MacPhail: The MacPhail's Selected Single Distillery Collection 8yr from Glenrothes Distillery. I had seen this bottling at the local package stores for a while, but I held off as I have a real aversion to young whiskies. Having heard some decent things about this dram (both online and from salesmen), I felt the $30 entry price was low enough to warrant one more try at an 8yr.

I popped the cork at a local cigar shop I frequent, and was blown away by the nose on this youngster! Smooth, vanilla, honey and sherry came up easily, with dried fruit and dates in the background. There was just a little nose tingle, but not too much. Hint of melon, maybe honeydew?

The whisky lost nothing on the palate, delivering a smoothness that I heretofore thought was impossible from an eight year old. A bit of spice came through, but not very much. Nothing like the 1992 Vintage from Glenrothes, which is a spicy little treat! This one just delivers enough spice to keep it interesting. The whisky is not overly sweet in the mouth, but rounds out its profile with just a bit of oak. Again, this is unusual for such a young whisky to have oak and spice notes like this whisky is delivering. I'm thinking this has to be a typo, and they meant to label it "18yrs". ;)

The finish gives off more spice and oak, mostly in the back of the throat. Some sherry is evident as well, but not overly so. The finish is pretty long, releasing wave after wave of gentle spice.

I immediately texted my fellow Glenrothes-loving friend, and told him about this independent bottling. I shared the bottle with a couple others in the cigar shop, and everyone who tasted it really enjoyed it.

This is the first independent bottling that I have enjoyed. The previous bottle was a Battlehill bottling of Auchentoshan. Never having tasted an official bottling of Auchentoshan (before or after), I don't know if it was the distillate or the bottling profile I didn't care for.

I was so surprised to be treated to such a fantastic whisky from The Glenrothes at such an affordable price! Way to go MacPhail's for putting out this fantastic malt!

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