Glenrothes is a Speyside whisky I have never written about so when I saw a trio sample of their Bourbon Cask Reserve, Vintage Reserve and Sherry Cask Reserve, buying it was a no brainer. And if you think you’ve never tried anything from them either but have tried Cutty Sark before, then you’ve tried it… sort off. Glenrothes is one of the core whiskies used in the Cutty Sark blend.

What you may find unique about this distillery, or maybe not so unique if you are true age-statement drinker is that they don’t bottle their whiskies by age, but rather by vintage. With never having tried these before I went in blindly with no prejudice, so lets get started on my thoughts.

Bourbon Cask Reserve

Two things to note about their Bourbon Cask Reserve, one, it used to be known as the Alba Reserve and two, it is certified Kosher.

Nose: sweet, oak and vanilla
Palate: creamy, coconut, sweet and light
Finish: smooth and light

This whisky is drinkable, smooth and creamy, however, if you are a whisky drinker, you’ll be able to tell right of the bat that this whisky is a young whisky.  It’s light enough that I would recommend to new whisky drinkers. This is a good whisky; it just won’t blow your socks off.

Vintage Reserve

Nose: sweet, cherries and oak
Palate: smooth, citrus and berries
Finish: light and vanilla ending notes

Ok, this one I like more than the Bourbon Cask Reserve. It’s slightly more complex, however it still retains it’s smoothness and it is lighter than I thought it would be. It’s very drinkable and quite surprising.

Sherry Cask Reserve

Nose: ginger, vanilla and sherry
Palate: spices, ginger, oak and sherry
Finish: spices and light sweetness

This one is my favorite of the three. What is surprising about this one is that I was expecting it to be sweet and it wasn’t. The sherry notes are mellow and light. There is quite a bit of complexity in a dram that is still smooth and balanced. It’s simply bold enough to make you want to reach for a second dram.

If I had to recommend one out of three, I would recommend the Sherry Cask Reserve over the other two. However, if you wanted to save money and wanted to try all three, I would just buy the trio sample, which was only around $40. For this price you can try all three and decide whether you liked one over the other before investing in one specific bottle.

Cheers!

Note: The contents on my blog are solely my opinion. To me every palate is different! Although I may or may not like a product, I always recommend for people to try it and make up their own minds.