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Kensington Wine Market's 2023 Whisky Calendar UBER EDITION Day 12 - Rosebank `The Roses` 21 Year Old

Posted on December 12, 2023

by Evan

Over the past week in the 2023 KWM UBER Whisky Calendar, we have had whiskies from a closed and demolished distillery (Caperdonich on day 6), and from a whisky brand potentially in transition from one distillery to the next (Canadian Club 45, which I feel like I just talked about yesterday). Today, we get to taste a whisky whose tumultuous history includes both the finality of closure and death and a somewhat surprising rebirth. Say hello to Rosebank `The Roses` 21-Year-Old Enchantment.

Rosebank Distillery is situated right beside the Forth and Clyde Canal in Falkirk, Scotland. It is about a 30-minute drive to the west along the M9, from Edinburgh Airport. It is also about a 12-minute drive west of the giant twin horse head sculptures known as The Kelpies, and a 10-minute drive East from the amazing Falkirk Wheel.

 

The Kelpies - Photo By Rosstheamazing - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Falkirk Wheel - Photo is Public Domain

The Rosebank Story is an interesting one, that until very recently had a very sad ending. The distillery at its current home was originally founded in 1840, though there are records of a Rosebank distillery operating in the area before that going back to 1817. By the 1860s it had become a booming whisky-making production, with the distillery on one side of the Forth and Clyde canal and a maltings facility on the other.

Using a unique combination of Triple Distillation and worm tubs for its whisky production, Rosebank was often called ‘The King of The Lowlands’. The distillery provided a steady supply of Lowland Single Malt for many blends and while it did cease operations during World War I, it was quickly restarted at the end of that war and continued production straight through World War II. Its operations came to an end in 1993, as it was considered too old and too costly to undergo a much-needed refurbishment at the time and road access to the distillery was difficult.

The site of Rosebank and its buildings were sold to British Waterways in 2002. At some point during the winter holidays between Christmas of 2008 and the 2009 New Year, the copper stills and mash tun were stolen from the site. This seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Rosebank, and there was little chance of it every being revived. The former maltings across the Canal had been turned into a restaurant, and some of the former Rosebank buildings were converted to apartments.

Click above for a great YouTube video on Rosebank's history.

Then, in 2017 Ian Macleod Distillers – owners of the Glengoyne and Tamdhu distilleries – went public with its plans to purchase the Rosebank Distillery site and bring it back into operation. Ian MacLeod Distillers also purchased the Rosebank name and some aging Rosebank whisky stock from Diageo. Planning permission for the rebuild was given in 2019. Replicas of the three original and stolen stills were recreated from blueprints by Forsyths Ltd. The worm tub condensers were reinstalled as well.

Production at Rosebank officially commenced in June of 2023, with the first run of new make spirit coming off the new stills. The first cask was filled on July 18th, 2023. Now we all have to be patient and see how the whisky matures.

Click above for a video of Rosebank relaunching in 2023!

In the meantime, there are official bottlings available of old Rosebank, and a few bottles for indie bottlers like we will be tasting today. Rosebank “The Roses” is a series of bottlings from Elixir Distillers. Each of the 7 editions of “The Roses” is a Rosebank bottling named after a different Rose variety. Enchantment is the seventh and final edition, featuring Rosebank distilled in 1990 and 1991. The whisky was matured 21 years in a mix of 75% ex-Bourbon and 25% Madeira casks, bottled at 50.3%.

Shall we give it a taste?

Rosebank `The Roses` 21-Year-Old Enchantment - 50.3%

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Crème Brule, apple cobbler, chamomile tea, vanilla scented candles, angel food cake, dryer sheets,  and a flower garden after a light rain.

Palate: Sunflower seeds, cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting, pear slices,  Hershey’s Cookies & Cream chocolate bar, light wood spices plus a hint of a musty dunnage warehouse.

Finish: Sweet and creamy with a bit of wood spice and a touch of saltiness.

Comment: There is nothing crazy, bold, or over the top about this. Instead, it is a soft and delicate but refined dram that checks all of the boxes on what I want from a whisky at the moment.

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Facebook & Instagram: @sagelikefool

You can find all blog posts for the UBER EDITION of Kensington Wine Market’s 2023 Whisky Calendar Here

This entry was posted in Whisky, Whisky Calendars, Distillery, Independent Bottler, KWM Whisky Calendar 2023 UBER EDITION

 

 

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