The Ultimate Glenrothes 1995 17YO review

The Ultimate Whisky Company is an independent bottler founded in 1994 by Han and Maurice van Wees. Since then they have released over 500 malt whiskies, the list of products can be found here along with distillation and bottling dates, ages, cask types and numbers. All of The Ultimate whiskies are non-chill filtered, single cask whiskies with no added colour. This 17 year old Speyside malt by Glenrothes distillery was distilled in 1995 and bottled in August 2012. Matured in a first fill sherry butt.

Starts like FULL METAL JACKET the movie

The Ultimate Glenrothes 1995 Aged 17 years felt quite entertaining. Like a roller coaster ride of spices and delicate sweet notes in a dry palate. Started out with a very light and delicate, yet magnificent nose – the best part of this dram. Then slowly fading into a more mediocre mode. Like the movie Full Metal Jacket, which gives you a mind blowing introduction with its first act. Offering high hopes to a yet so average script. But I didn’t mind really, both, the dram and the movie are definitely worth a try.

Matured in:

Ex-Sherry butt

Colour: Golden amber

Nose: Buttery with malt and some sugary aromas. Like some nice marshmallows at first, turning into powerful and sweet sherry and wine notes in the end. If you let it breathe for a while, some peat starts to rise.

Taste: Bitter, raw chocolate with cinnamon wrapped together in some dry oak. Fruity notes are present as well.

Finish: Quite long with dry notes and some oak. Bit spicy and herbal with the finish – feels a bit like rum.

Balance: Dark, yet mellow palate. Balances quite well between dry, spicy and sweet notes. I probably expected more but still, aren’t too much disappointed because it still is a good dram.