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Glenrothes The Alba Reserve

woody malty
3.9
(2)€45Scotland, Speyside, Single Malt

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

In March 2009, Rabbi Padwa of the London Beth Din signed off on this bottling. That made it the first certified kosher whisky from Glenrothes. The distillery normally fills a mix of sherry and bourbon casks. Sherry is not kosher, so this one went into American oak refill bourbon casks alone. The wood shows. Coconut and vanilla lead, with lemon and fresh fruit behind them. The texture is soft and sweet, closer to creme brulee than to spice. It carries no age statement, because Glenrothes bottles by maturity instead. A kosher stamp still sits on the back label.

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About the distillery

Distillery

Glenrothes

The Glenrothes distillery is located in Rothes, Moray, Scotland, and was founded in 1878. The distillery's water source is the Ardcanny and Brauchhill springs, which provide water with high mineral content. The distillery uses a unique method of selecting casks for aging, which involves choosing casks based on the individual character of the whisky, rather than a fixed age statement. This process results in a range of whiskies that are carefully crafted to showcase the best of each vintage.

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Speyside

Most popular whiskies from Glenrothes

About the Glenrothes The Alba Reserve

Glenrothes The Alba Reserve is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky bottled at 40% ABV. Founded in 1879, the Glenrothes distillery bottles only three percent of what it makes as single malt. This release carries no age statement. That is deliberate, because the distillery judges a cask on maturity rather than years. Casks are nosed and tasted many times before anyone signs them off. What sets this one apart is the wood: American oak refill bourbon casks, and nothing else. The reason for that narrow wood choice is kosher certification. Glenrothes normally fills a mix of Spanish and American oak seasoned with sherry, bourbon and refill Scotch. Only the bourbon wood counts as fully kosher. Residual sherry in the standard whisky measures no more than 1250 parts per million. Sherry is still not kosher. So the distillery built an expression that Orthodox Jewish drinkers could enjoy. Rabbi Padwa of the London Beth Din certified it in March 2009. The American oak announces itself straight away. The nose is fresh and floral, with lemon, vanilla and fresh fruit. Coconut follows, the classic marker of bourbon wood. On the palate it turns sweet and soft, with citrus, more vanilla and a creamy creme brulee weight. The malty base spirit sits underneath rather than out front. Nothing here is sharp or heavily woody. The finish is smooth and medium in length, leaving vanilla behind. Set against the rest of the Glenrothes range, Glenrothes The Alba Reserve is the odd one out. The Select Reserve and the Sherry Cask Reserve both draw on Spanish oak seasoned with sherry. Strip that away and you get a lighter, sweeter, more tropical malt. In 2016 the owners renamed it Bourbon Cask Reserve, simply to say on the label what was in the bottle. Bottles under the Alba name still carry the London Beth Din stamp on the back.