Glenrothes Select Reserve Review

Clothes don’t make the Whisky!

Country: Scotland 

Region: Highland - Speyside

Brand: Glenrothes Select Reserve

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Age: 10 Years

ABV: 43 %

Colour: Golden Sunlight

Nose: In a Blind Tasting I most probably would have qualified this as a Blended Scotch Whisky. It's Young and Edgy and there's not much of interest going on I'm afraid. I find Cereals, Nut Shells, Dried Fruits (Raisins and Apricots), Toffee, Fermented Orchard Fruit, Heather, Young Wood, Brown Sugar, light Honey, Artificially Flavoured Fruit Candies, Citrus Peel, Alcohol and light Spices. At times I thought it smelled like a mediocre Armagnac.

Palate: Light, Edgy and Sugary Sweet with Cereals, Toffee/Caramel, Straw, Nut Shells, Citrus Peel, slightly Bitter Wood, Spice, Alcohol and hints of Espresso and Peach.

Finish: Short with Sugared Cereals, Nut Shells, Vanilla Flavoured Biscuits, Oak, light Citrus and Spice.

The Glenrothes Select Reserve does not improve with added Water.

Rating: 76

Nose: 19.5 - Taste: 19 - Finish: 18.5 - Overall: 19

General Remarks: The Glenrothes Distillery was built in 1878/1879 by James Stuart & Co. Current owners are Berry Bros & Rudd. The Glenrothes is an important ingredient in Blends like Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse. 

The Non Vintage (NAS) Single Malt we are tasting today is a special selection made by John Ramsay, the Glenrothes Malt Master. It matured in a mixed bag of Ex-Bourbon Casks and Ex-Sherry Butts and is sold at around 50 US Dollars. The Packaging and Presentation are nice.

Drinking Experience Neat: Below Average/Okay

Conclusion: Words like Special, Selected, Hand Picked, Reserve and the like are quite liberally used in the Food and Beverage Industry. As these words don't tell you anything specific about the quality or age of a product  and you should not pay too much attention to them. In my opinion there is nothing Select or Reserve to this Glenrothes. It's a simple Single Malt that smells and tastes like an average Scottish Blend. Drinkable of course but that's about it. 

Jan van den Ende                                                              February 24, 2014