Glenrothes was founded in 1879 through the work of James Stuart, a local Rothes businessman who began the construction of the distillery, and the Reverend William Sharp, who secured the remaining funds after Stuart was forced to step aside for financial reasons. Though a series of fires, explosions and world events hampered production at times, the distillery has been making whisky for over 140 years for a variety of owners. Much of the Glenrothes stock is aged in ex-sherry casks and some ex-bourbon casks, but like many distilleries, they like to experiment. The Glenrothes Peated Cask Reserve was part of a now discontinued series from 2016 that saw whisky from their 1992 stock finished for a few months in (unnamed) ex-Islay casks. Apparently this was inspired by an association from the 19th century the distillery had with the Islay Distillery Company.
Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve
The Glenrothes distillery is guided by what it calls its four corners: Water, Slow Distillation, Sherry Seasoned Casks, and Natural Color. The distillery also relaunched its brand recently, doing away with the previous method of categorizing its line and returning age statements. This is a refreshing choice given how many brands are going in the opposite direction. While the current line is mostly age statements, however, the Glenrothes Sherry Cask Reserve is from before the relaunch and, as the name would indicate, entirely aged in ex-sherry casks. It first appeared in 2014. We bought the bottle some time before this review went live, so what was once an easy introduction to a sherried single malt is now about a discontinued offering.
Glenrothes Vintage 1998
The Glenrothes has a way of categorizing their scotch that is markedly different than most other distilleries. Rather than bearing a standard age statement or name in lieu of one, the Glenrothes labels their offerings by the year in which the barrels were first laid down. The bottle details tell you when the scotch was bottled, letting you do your own math to figure out the age. The Vintage 1998 is from their Core Vintage line, though there are Reserve, Special Release, and Classic lines too.