PR invite // All thoughts and opinions are, of course, my own.
Rosebank has always been one of those distilleries that have had that almost mythical essence about it as the only spirit that’s been available has been rare, old and expensive. I had the opportunity to work with Rosebank last year when we were filming in the Kelpies for their limited release and have been hearing updates about the new distilleries here, there and everywhere so it feels strange that it’s now up and running!
It’s great to see a distillery that’s so easily accessible by public transport as well since you can take the train to Falkirk and walk there.
Rosebank Rekindled Tour
We did the Rosebank Rekindled Tour which is 90 minutes and £95/pp for a guide tour around the production areas and a tasting of Rosebank 31 Year Old, Glengoyne 15 year Old and Tamdhu 15 Year Old. Compared to the Reawakening Tour which is the more affordable option, you only get to try Rosebank whisky on the Rekindled one and the other two drams at the tasting are whiskies from Ian Macleods sister distilleries. So if you want to try whisky from Rosebank at the moment, you can only do so on the Rekindled Tour or the other more expensive options.
The tour starts with a video that shows you the history and rebirth of the distillery, which acts like a nice introduction to the experience. After the video you head into the production area which is very nicely designed and seems to flow softly from room to room in an order that makes a lot of sense, not only production wise but also tour wise. After going through malting, milling, mashing and fermentation you head into the still room and this is where Rosebank has a feature which you don’t often see in the scotch whisky distillery landscape. They have three stills for triple distillation, whereas most distilleries in Scotland only do double distillation. Rosebank also uses worm tubs for their condensers which generally seems like a counterintuitive character development to the triple distillation which produces a lighter style of spirit whereas the worm tubs are known for being used to produce a heavier style of spirit. When I’ve tried the older Rosebanks they have always had quite a grassy and light style and it will be really interesting to see if the future whisky goes along the same style, but somehow I think it will be quite similar. Only time will tell.
After seeing the main production areas there is also a room dedicated to showcase maturation, which holds a select few special casks, but the main maturation site is elsewhere. As we walked to the tasting room, we also quickly had a look at some of the other tasting rooms used for other tours and bigger groups and I must say that the design and decoration throughout the building is very nicely done and feels welcoming and friendly, yet elegant.
For our tasting we enjoyed the 15 Year Old Glengoyne, 15 Year Old Tamdhu and the 31 Year Old Rosebank as previously mentioned. We also had a sip of the new make which was really interesting to try. It felt almost spicy with notes of banana and sweet citrus.
It will be interesting to see how the distillery develops and when we might see an actual whisky being released from the new distillate. It sounds like it may be many years to wait before that happens though…
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