As you might know by now, I have a huge crush on independently bottled Glenrothes. Although my buying habits are shifting towards bourbon matured whiskies, there’s always a deep love for sherry left in my DNA. And there’s one distillery that I can rely on when it comes to sherry finishes and maturations that fit my taste like no other: Glenrothes.

I don’t bother with their core range bottlings to be honest. In fact: I never even bought any. Sure I have tasted some core Glenrothes left and right with friends or at festivals, but they never appealed to me as there’s a wide selection of higher and/or cask strength indie bottlings available.

And within the indie ‘rothes spectrum, I tend toward a bourbon maturation with a sherry finish on top. This bottle had matured on sherry butts only though. This 2005 expression is 14 years old and bottled at 48.4% ABV by Douglas Laing. I was gifted this bottle by my wife and noticed the weight was oddly low. Neither me or my wife had noticed that this is a 50cl bottle, until I carefully inspected the label. Clever packaging, but it makes the price quite steep for a 14yo Glenrothes at non cask strength (she paid around €95). I felt quite bad for her, I’m sure many others don’t notice this when they pick one from the shelf. But let’s have a look at the taste:

The taste is really great and the ABV is just right, it actually tastes like it’s bottled at cask strength (without the burn). It has exactly that what I look for in a Glenrothes: fruitcake with some funky herbal notes. Ben Nevis has that too, even without the sherry casks. I’m enjoying every drop of it, but I have to deduct a couple of points because of the price. The price converts to €133,- for a 70cl bottle, that’s just way to high compared to what you pay for a similar bottle