SMWS 25.64 Rosebank 22-Year Old Whisky Review!

As special drams go, this one is right up there! The only Rosebank I'll ever own, found for a bargain price a few years ago, and opened to help celebrate my 40th birthday!

A triple-distilled Lowland single malt using worm tub condensers. On paper it sounds strange and contradictory, much like the production regimens of many other Scotch whisky distilleries. But in the case of Rosebank there's one undeniable fact: whatever the reasoning for those contradictions, it worked! This dead - but now rebuilt - distillery in Falkirk, roughly 45-minutes north of Edinburgh, has earned a cult following since it's closure in June 1993. Then-owner United Distillers' (which later became Diageo) reasoning for closing this 150-year old malt whisky distillery was a £2,000,000 investment to make it compliant with environmental requirements and waste practices. After the distillery was closed the property was sold to the local government thanks to its convenient location on the banks of the Forth & Clyde Canal, and the distillery buildings soon fell into disrepair and neglect. The stills were then cut up & stolen under suspicious circumstances and other pieces of plant were pinched for other distilleries, which cemented Rosebank's fate. 

For most Scotch whisky lovers there are three most-vaunted names uppermost in their list of departed distilleries; Brora in the Highlands, Port Ellen on Islay, and Rosebank in the Lowlands. This dead distillery trifecta is far more popular and more widely known than they were while operating, akin to many great artists not being appreciated fully until their demise. Maybe we don't know what we've got 'til it's gone! Diageo still own the former two distilleries which have since been rebuilt and reopened, but in 2017 they surprisingly sold the Rosebank brand and remaining stocks to Ian McLeod Distillers, the company behind Tamdhu & Glengoyne distilleries plus a few independent bottling brands. Ian McLeod also managed to purchase the original distillery site and the remaining buildings from the Scottish government, and in 2019 they began planning to rebuild Rosebank Distillery. Work didn't actually begin until 2021 and production at the new distillery - pictured above - didn't begin until mid-2023, and the visitor's centre didn't open until mid-2024. The company has continued to release the old pre-closure stock as well, and will do so until 2026-onwards when the new spirit comes of age as Scotch whisky.

Despite the new owner's efforts to retain as much of the original Rosebank site as possible, in reality this is a completely new and modern distillery. But they've stayed true to the Rosebank name by going with 100% triple-distillation and worm tub condensers, arguably the most important part of the distillery's production regimen. Triple distillation is a practice more widely (and inaccurately) attributed to Irish whiskey, and is a rarity in Scotch whisky. The entirety of Rosebank's production is distilled three times rather than the usual two-times that is commonplace in Scotch whisky. A few Scottish distilleries do dabble in triple distillation - for example Benromach, Benriach, Glasgow, and Springbank for their Hazelburn brand, but only Beam Suntory's Auchentoshan and now Ian McLeod's Rosebank triple distill 100% of their spirit production. Crucially, particularly for a triple-distilled spirit, each of Rosebank's three pot stills are equipped with traditional worm tub condensers, which makes Rosebank unique in Scotch whisky and quite possibly in the world. While triple-distillation makes for a lighter, cleaner, and more refined spirit, worm tub condensers do the opposite by providing less copper contact than a modern shell & tube condenser, while also being faster to condense the spirit vapours back into liquid. Essentially the spirit vapours travel through the lyne arms at the top of the pot stills into a single copper or sometimes stainless steel coiling pipe which plunges into a vat of cold water, rapidly cooling the vapours back into liquid. This results in a heavier, more characterful, and more viscous spirit when compared to a modern shell & tube condenser, generally also resulting in a more meaty, dirty, or sulphurous character due to lessened interaction with copper which removes sulphur compounds from the spirit. And that's what we have with Rosebank; a floral but muscular, viscous but delicate Lowland single malt. This is even apparent in the few younger examples that I've been lucky enough to try over the years, but it's a profile that also works beautifully with long-term ageing in a refill cask. Which is exactly what we have here!

The Rosebank that we're looking at today is an independent bottling from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), who use distillery code '25' to signify Rosebank. Named "Manzanilla Sherry Trifle" this bottling was the 64th cask of Rosebank that "The Society" had bottled, so it's labelled as 25.64 in their coding system. It was distilled on the 14th of November 1990 and matured in a single refill ex-bourbon hogshead (250-litre cask) prior to being bottled at 22-years of age back in 2013. 231 bottles were released at a cask strength of 58.9% ABV, and it is of course non-chill filtered and natural colour. I was lucky enough to stumble across this bottle at a very reasonable price - all thanks to a much appreciated heads up from a fellow whisky nerd - a few years ago, and since Rosebank is the favourite distillery of another good mate, I decided to crack it open to help celebrate my 40th birthday in late-2024 where I opened one bottle for each person's favourite distilleries. As you can see, unfortunately for me one of these good mates has much more expensive tastes than the rest of us, and I'm extremely unlikely to ever own another bottle of Rosebank! But he & the rest of us loved the dram if anything it's improved even further in the subsequent months. So I stand by my decision! Let's get into it!

Rosebank 22-year old, SMWS 25.64, 58.9% ABV. Lowlands, Scotland.

Distilled 14/11/1990, matured in single ex-bourbon hogshead, bottled 2013. 231 bottles, non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Malty, fruity, floral, and dense. Lovely biscuity malted barley, milk bottle lollies (vanilla chewy sweets), quality vanilla custard, marzipan, and ground wood spices. Woody & sweet dried flowers (pot purri mix), bitter grapefruit rind, and a touch of lemon peel. White pepper, salted liquorice, and freeze-dried berries. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Thick & viscous, oily, malty, and spicy. Slight heat, but it is 59% alcohol after all!

Taste: Malty dry entry with that biscuity malt, more white pepper, ground wood spices, some freshly cut hardwood & sawdust. Salted liquorice again, vanilla bean custard, and pot purri (woody & sweet dried flower mix). Marzipan, a touch of thickened cream, and lemon butter cake icing. 

Finish: Long length. White pepper, marzipan, and a little fresh sawdust. Sharp & bitter grapefruit (one of my favourite notes in whisky), and that lemon butter cake icing. Still malty & biscuity, sweet, lightly floral & woody. This 22-year old Rosebank would make a fantastic perfume!

Score: 4.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Just delicious. Rosebank really is excellent, and this is a great example, one of the best I've had to date. The only other Lowlanders I've had that come close are St. Magdalene / Linlithgow, which is far rarer and even more expensive than Rosebank, and one good ex-bourbon cask Daftmill - in a more "modern" style of course. In fact there were surprising similarities between that first Daftmill I tasted and those younger Rosebanks mentioned above, which is surprising because Daftmill use neither triple distillation nor worm tub condensers... Just goes to show that both distilleries were & are doing something right! It's good to see Rosebank finally kick back into life, and I hope the new owners can successfully recreate this fantastic & unique style of whisky. Time will tell - a couple of decades' time, in fact. 

This review is slightly bittersweet, since this bottle is irreplaceable, but I'm very glad I've opened it. And for a fitting occasion as well! I'll not be rushing to finish this very special bottle - not that I ever do rush to finish a bottle, often taking years! But I'll be stretching this one out as much as possible. Fantastic whisky and a great example of what Rosebank made back then, and hopefully will make again. 

Cheers!