Glenrothes SMWS 30.100 “An abundance of fruit cake”

 

Thanks to /u/xreekinghavocx for pouring me a sample of this whisky.

It’s Xmas time. And somehow you’ve gotten your baking done and out of the house. Perhaps you’re not even someone who celebrates Xmas. Maybe you’ve not gained the requisite 10 kg of weight needed for the rough winters ahead in this new world.

So you’re all set, and then a package arrives. You see it’s from a friend who likes to bake. Upon opening it, you see it’s a fruit cake.

“Oh well,” you think. It’s not like these things are horrible. One will keep and they freeze well. And then the postman knocks again. And again. You’re buried up to your fanciful sweater in nut fruit baked goods. You scream; the ever-present taste of spices and walnuts enters your mouth. In the distance, sirens.

You’ve just imagined the horrible situation that is Glenrothes SMWS 30.100 “An abundance of fruit cake”. Or at least the name. Frankly, we can’t imagine either. Fruit Cake is a pox upon my parent’s generation (baby boomers), and only something that has since filtered down through jokes and complaints on TV shows yet has no basis in reality. Add to that walnuts are used in fruit cake and I, having an allergy, can’t even test if the above horror is correct or if I’d be the happiest person on the show “The 1,000 lb man”.

However, SMWS has given us a chance to try out this situation without having to say goodbye to seeing my genitals or suffer allergic reactions. And for that, I think them.

Let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A in Canada

Region: Speyside

Date Distilled: 17.04.1997

Age: 20-years-old

Cask Type: 2nd Fill Ex-Sherry Butt

Outturn: 636 bottles

Abv: 56.5%

Colour: 7.5YR 5/10

Nose: Butterscotch, strawberry, cherrywood, tangerine skin

Very strong nose. Powerful. Lots of that red oak, sherry influence going on. A bit of stone fruit as well to remind you it’s Glenrothes. And some butterscotch.

It does a few things on the nose really, really well, and then ends there. Like me and my

Taste: Cinnamon, grapefruit white chocolate fudge, cherry, cranberry, caramel

Spice, and then a really odd combination of creamy white chocolate and tart grapefruit. And yeah, I get that’s a really fucking weird note. Honestly, it’s hard to separate the two, makes me angry just writing it. It’s not something I particularly enjoy. That tart and cream make my brain worried about orange juice and milk combinations.

That said, there’s no curdled flavour. It’s just not a combo I enjoy, like playing old school Mortal Kombat versus someone who knows what they are doing. Fucking Stryker.

Finish: Coconut, almond, grapefruit, oak, molasses

Finish leaves all that sherry aspect behind and goes back to Glenrothes, with some virgin oak and rum influences that I know aren’t in there unless someone stayed too long near the fermenter and made some bad decisions at the distillery.

Goes heavy on the grapefruit/acidity again. If you wake up and have grapefruit in the morning, congrats on healthy eating and not having medication that bars that, then this finish is for you.

Conclusion: Weird. Very odd combos. Lots of acidity. As people have noted in the past, my ability to handle bitter aspects isn’t always the best. I’m more of a sweets person, as my man titties denote to those around me.

Joking aside, there’s a strong sherry enhanced nose that adds to the typical Glenrothes profile and tries to elevate it. The taste then hits you with combinations of fruits that I’m not a fan of when mixed into white chocolate. And sadly that one note drags this one down. The finish gives you an okay idea and again plays on the Glenrothes profile, however frankly I have trouble getting past the unbalanced, odd taste. So try before you buy this one.

81/100

Scotch review #989, Speyside review #272, Whisky Network review #1546