The Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve

I recently purchased a bottle of this for those days I feel like drinking something that’s not overly complex and easy to drink in larger amounts. I’ve had a few different samples from Glenrothes, but never an entire bottle. This was found locally for $40 and remembering that this stuff is generally easy drinking, I opted for the purchase. This particular bottle is bottled at 40%, has color added and is chill-filtered. It’s a deep gold with a slight red hue, while appearing very oily and making lots of legs and droplets around the rim. The nose is typical Speyside sherry with red berries constantly present. It’s slightly muted on the nose and palate, with some sawdust notes creeping in if you let it sit awhile. There’s no real barrel notes to be found. The palate is again, primarily, berries and a smooth malty characteristic. It’s overly watery with some bitter oak filtering in later on the back end. The oiliness disappears as well and it turns a little dry. The finish is short and all the flavor washes away a bit too easily for my liking, but there’s a slight warmth that stays behind. Overall, there are bits that seem artificial, but the entire profile is true to most sherry cask whisky styles. If anything, it needs a boost in ABV and maybe some more cask presence, but then that would probably increase the cost and open this up to more scrutiny. As it is, just 2.75-3 stars is all I feel like it warrants. It makes for an easy drinker for those days you just want to sit around and sip on something sweet while catching an afternoon buzz. There’s nothing wrong with that. Cheers, my friends.

Mild oak nose with notes of sweetness. Sweet dark fruit flavor with a touch of oak & chocolate. Mild sweet oak finish and lingering flavor.