Glenrothes 13 Year Old 1989 SMWS Single Sherry Butt 30.38 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2002) 75cl

Glenrothes 13 Year Old 1989 SMWS Single Sherry Butt 30.38 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2002) 75cl

1 of 289 bottles produced back in 2002 from a single sherry butt.

This Glenrothes is dark! Just the way we like it.

The oldest label format from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society which ran from 1983 until 2006.

This was only released in USA so a little more whisky at 75cl instead of 70cl. It is a cask that we did not get to enjoy in the UK.
It is such a delight to see some of the really early editions of the SMWS single cask bottlings. Even better to drink them!

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004. In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!

The SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.

These older labels from the first runs are mostly with distillation methods that include direct heat which was replaced with steam for many distilleries for environmental reasons changing the taste of whisky forever. It'll get real interesting when nuclear fusion is used to distil whisky. We might glow green for a few weeks after we drink the stuff. Who knows.... but all we know is that the old stuff has a musky taste that is VERY welcomed by people nowadays trying to time travel through whisky's past.

About Glenrothes

In a word, Glenrothes is complex. It is a slow whisky which because of its weight takes time to mature. It also needs longer than most to open up in the glass. This notion of time and speed are central to its production.

Mashing is speedy, while fermentation in a mix of steel and wood is on the shorter side. A ratio of two wood to one steel balances any differences in character, while the length of the fermentation introduces a cereal note beneath the fruit. Distillation, however, is long in very tall stills with boil bulbs which help to maximise reflux and allow the full range of Glenrothes’ complexities to be teased out.

The bulk is then aged in ex-Sherry casks (European and American) which again necessitates the need for lengthy maturation. Ex-Bourbon is also used. The result is a multifaceted single malt which combines nuts and fruits with a distinctly sweet spiciness.

Built in 1878 at the start of the third wave of distilleries, Glenrothes almost foundered before it was even completed. Like any number of what were still speculative ventures, the initial investors (all of whom owned Macallan at the time) fell foul of wider economic circumstance, in their case the collapse of the Glasgow Bank. The group split, with William Grant (not the same as Glenfiddich), Robert Dick and John Cruikshank continuing with their Rothes plan which was only completed thanks to a timely loan from the United Free Presbyterian Church of Knockando who though strict Rechabites (teetotalers) were clearly imbued with the spirit of Christian charity.

Glenrothes prospered after this less than happy start and when it amalgamated with Bunnahabhain in 1887 it brought Highland Distillers into existence. With Robertson & Baxter as agents, Glenrothes was immediately marked out as top-class blending material, its most notable destinations being Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse.

As with many distilleries, the 1960s boom saw an increase in capacity (here from four to six stills), and continuing optimism saw another pair being added in 1980 just as the rest of the industry was calming supply down. In 1989 it once again defied the market and upped the number to ten.

In 1987 its long relationship with Cutty Sark brought Glenrothes into the portfolio of London wine merchants Berry Brothers & Rudd (which owned 50% of the Cutty brand). This was given greater impetus in 1993 when Berrys repackaged the single malt and began releasing expressions as vintages rather than standard age statements. These smaller single year batches allowed Berrys to express different aspects of the whisky’s evolution during maturation (rather than differences between flavour from year to year).

In recent years the vintages have been joined by larger volume no-age-statement releases such as Select Reserve and Alba Reserve.

In 2010, Berrys sold Cutty Sark to Edrington (the firm formed out of Highland Distillers) in exchange for ownership of The Glenrothes brand. The plant itself however remained part of Edrington and the liquid played a significant role in the firm’s blends as well as those from competitors.

In 2017 Edrington bought the Glenrothes brand back from Berry Bros. in a bid to accelerate the single malt’s growth in international markets.

59.7% ABV

75cl