Vintages of Glenrothes from the 1970s and 1980s are increasingly hard to come by. Glenrothes 1998 is one of that rare breed. Never before bottled, Vintage 1998 is matured in a combination of Spanish and American oak cask butts which have previously been seasoned by stocks of Sherry and Whisky. The combination of oak complexity and Single Malt gives the citrus notes a delicious cooked orange flavour and plenty of fruit, the latest addition to the very rare selections of the 1990s.

A Vintage is a set of casks which have been hand picked by the Malt Master from a particular year's distillation and judged to be at the peak of all possible perfection. These are rare. Vintage selections account for little more than 2% of the distillery's production capacity. Many a year, Glenrothes is as always, a top class dram, a Vintage Malt however is not released annually. Maybe there is not enough stock, or maybe the available casks do not meet the exacting standards, or maybe, the character is not sufficiently individual. Unlike Malt Whiskies that are produced in line with the age concept, each Vintage must have its own unique personality