Glen Rosa Blended Scotch Review



          “Not Easy to Find, Thanks God for That"  

Country: Scotland 
Brand: Glen Rosa
Bottler: Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd, Arran
Type: Blended Malt Whisky
Age: NAS
ABV: 40 %

Colour: Light Gold  

Nose: My son Marco said it smelled like entering a Brazilian Bakery (Padaria) where it always smells of Toasted Buttered Bread and Coffee. He is right in a way, although I am going to play it down quite a bit! I find lots of Young Grain Alcohol, Buttered Burnt Toast, Green Coffee Beans, Cocoa Powder, Refill Oak, Nut Shells, Straw, Raisins, light Honey, light Citrus and Sugared Breakfast Cereals. It's all very Light and Thin and it smells like your typical Bottom Shelf Blended Scotch. The Alcohol is not at all integrated and it stings quite a bit.

Palate: Not at all pleasant I'm afraid. Industrial Alcohol of Low Quality with a bit of Refill Oak, Pepper, Sugared Cereals and Nut Shells.

Finish: Thin and Short with Stinging Young Grain Alcohol, Pepper, Sugared Cereals and light Licorice. Maybe hints of Citrus and Nutmeg. Quite Bitter in the end.

I added some Water but that makes it almost undrinkable. 

Rating: 64.5 

Nose: 17.5 - Taste: 15 - Finish: 16 - Overall: 16 

I Bought A Miniature Just Like This in a Whisky Shop in Oban

General Remarks: Glen Rosa is a Glen near Goat Fell on the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde in Western Scotland. The Blended Whisky named after this Glen is or was produced by the Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd. I couldn't find anything very important about this Blend on the Internet and it's not mentioned anymore on the Arran Distillery Site. So it's quite possible it's out of production although you can still buy the Miniatures via some Internet shops. There are/were also some other Glen Rosa expressions in the market like the NAS -, 8 - and 15 Year Old Pure Malt. If anybody can give some additional information on Glen Rosa Blends please leave a message in the Comments section. Thanks! Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that you can find the Glen Rosa NAS Blend for around 60 US Dollars on the Internet. It's becoming a collectors item!  

Drinking Experience Neat: Unpleasant  

Conclusion: It's been a while since I tasted a Whisky that scores below the 70 Points Barrier. Any Whisky that scores that low should be avoided at all times. In this case that won't be hard as it's difficult to find. But that's okay! Don't look for it and don't ever pay 60 US Dollars for this Blend. The Nose is still quite comparable to its Bottom Shelf peers but on the Palate it's quite unpleasant. I managed to finish off the whole miniature but it wasn't a pleasure. My personal "Call of Duty". I really like Arran and the Single Malts they are producing but they should not bother to produce this sort of stuff that hardly deserves the name Whisky. Enough said!  

Jan van den Ende                                                           November 9, 2014

Glen Rosa at Arran

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