Berry Bros. & Rudd has unveiled 179 bottles of the aptly titled Glenrothes Extraordinary Cask, with 50 bottles imported to the US by Anchor Distilling Company. Bottled in a hand-blown lead crystal decanter created at Atlantis Crystal in Portugal, mounted on a Scottish Oak plinth and housed in a custom leather carrying case, the spirit is priced at $5,000 apiece. Inside the rich packaging is an ultra-rare whisky born from a 1970 single cask distillate.
We asked Anchor Distilling Company president David King about importing the Glenrothes Extraordinary Cask to the US. With a portfolio of more that 300 carefully curated, specialty artisanal spirits from 20 counties, Anchor Distilling Company is partially owned by The Glenrothes’ parent company, Berry Bros. & Rudd—the world’s oldest wine and spirit merchant from London. King acquired 50 bottles of this very limited Glenrothes offering with the hopes of getting one to each state. “The cask, an ex-bourbon hogshead, has given only 179 bottles due to the evaporation of the Angels’ share,” explains King. “It was distilled on July 6,1970 and its provenance has been tracked since distillation until bottling.” Typically, a cask yields about 350 mL, meaning more than half of this share’s liquid was lost to evaporation.
King shared his tasting notes, describing the spirit as “an earthy, autumnal nose with notes of toffee apples, custard, and puff pastry with apple. There is a light peppery palate that is fresh with citrus and eucalyptus. The finish is long and beguiling with notes of dark chocolate.”
Adapted from the highly awarded Glenrothes pack, the bottle design was influenced by the sample bottles used at the distillery—”The head of the stopper is actually fashioned from the very cask that the whisky came from cask #10573,” adds King. With a polished brass plaque mounted on each bottle engraved with 1970 and the bottle number, this rare single malt whisky from Speyside will carve a coveted notch of the belt of a discerning high-end whisky collector. The Glenrothes Extraordinary Cask sells in the US through Anchor Distilling and its distributors.