Old Rhosdhu 26 Year Old 1993 Mobters on Mopeds

The boys and girls of BYOB-C (Bring Your Own Bottle Club) made a very surprising choice for their fifth release in the Mobsters on Mopeds series. After the fruity Blair Athol 2000, the summery Cambus 1991, the very good Ardmore 1998 and the heart-warming dirty young Ledaig 2007, they selected an… drumroll, please: Old Rhosdhy! The name might not ring a bell, but this malt was distilled between 1966 and 2000 at the versatile Loch Lomond distillery. That it is exceptional is an understatement. Less than 40 releases are known worldwide of Old Rhosdhu! Our friends from Biopsy released 55 bottles from a bourbon hogshead at cask strength.

Oh, my, this is a very good nose! Sweet on orchard fruit and some Brussels waffle with icing sugar, mandarin from a tin and pineapple on the barbecue. Devoid of spices. This is all very soft, very fruity and thus very pleasant. It even reminded me for just a second of Littlemill. Go figure!

The body is fine, the strength perfect. This one has both weight and punch. Again deliciously fruity – add a fresh litchi and some gooseberries – but with a good dose of black pepper, making it pretty feisty. Some apricot pastry in the background as well as some grapefruit juice. Midpalate a soft bitterness from the wood kicks in, but that only serves to balance things out.

The finish hits all the right spots. Long, bittersweet, mildly drying and just excellent. The slight metallic note at the death comes much too late to crash this party.

I am flabbergasted. Never would have guessed that Loch Lomond used to make such great stuff. As with my other bottles in this series, I was again able to add the final one to my collection. Bottle 55 of 55 now shares the shelf with the previous four Mopeds. And they look good. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right. And to think that this is only my second Old Rhosdhu ever. The price tag was 154 EUR and all bottles sold out in less than two days. No surprise. Best money spent this month.