Rosebank 19 Year Old 1990 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask

Rosebank, the queen of the Lowlands, is currently being rebuilt and if all goes well it will in fact reopen this year. We’ll have to wait and see whether they succeed in recreating the old style. In the meantime, I’ll try an older bottling from Old Malt Cask, when the brand was still owned by Douglas Laing.

Spring fresh nose on barley sugars, vanilla, coconut and some mint. Pleasantly creamy. Some cake with honey. Gooseberries. A floral hint with a single slice of lime rounds it out. Good nose, without being exceptional.

Surprisingly alcoholic and immediately very spicy on ginger and nutmeg and a handful of black pepper corn. It takes a while before the white and yellow fruit can show itself. A fresh lift is offered through a good dose of mint. Citrus fruit returns, but no trace of the coconut on the palate. Having said that, this malt is very pleasing, even it a tad too spicy for me.

The finish is medium long, mildly drying and pleasant on lemon zest, white pepper and mint.

Ten years ago, when the bottle was released, you could pick it up for 100 EUR. Today you’ll have to pay three to four times that.

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