Glenrothes

Glenrothes is a large single malt distillery located right in the heart of Speyside. Sitting on the edge of the small town of Rothes, next to the local cemetery, the distillery cuts an imposing figure. It is one of four distilleries in the town - Glen Grant, Glen Spey and Speyburn being the others - and boasts a string of popular single malt releases. Previous success was built on being a premium blending malt, featuring heavily in huge brands such as Cutty Sark and Famous Grouse.

Glenrothes produces a rich, oily and heavy single malt that exhibits notes of robust cereals and green orchard fruit.

The heavier style of new make spirit matures extremely well in ex-sherry butts. These large casks are made from either American or European oak and can hold up to 700 litres. Smaller ex-bourbon barrels are also used but in lower quantities. The robust nature of the single malt gives a rounded feel and adds considerable structure and depth when used for blending.

Glenrothes operates 44 mashes per week through its 5.5 tonne mash tun. Mash is fed to one of 20 washbacks. Twelve are wooden and made of Oregon pine, and eight are stainless steel. The fermentation time is 58 hours. Ten stills are work in pairs with distillation being particularly slow. These are housed in one of the most majestic still houses in Scotland, nicknamed 'The Cathedral of Speyside'. The annual production capacity is 5.6 million litres. Glenrothes is also one of the few Scottish distilleries to have a cooperage on site. A team of four coopers repair 6000 casks on average per year.

Glenrothes was founded in 1878 by James Stuart & Co. There were many partners involved including John Cruikshank, Robert Dick and William Grant. They were also involved in the part-ownership of Macallan, which is located just a few miles away. Production began in December 1879. In 1887 the distillery became part of the Highland Distillers Company and the name was changed to Glenrothes-Glenlivet.

Under the ownership of HDC, the Glenrothes single malt became widely regarded as a premium blending malt. Over the years it featured numerous popular blended Scotch whiskies, most notably Cutty Sark and Famous Grouse. Demand for Glenrothes' by blenders led to significant expansions of the distillery, first in the 1960s and then twice in the 1980s.

In 1987 Berry Brothers & Rudd, the famous old London wine and spirits merchants took ownership. They owned a 50% share in the Cutty Sark brand and securing Glenrothes helped consolidate their supply of whisky for it. In 1993 they introduced a series of vintage bottlings to launch Glenrothes as a single malt. These whiskies soon grew a cult following. Small batches and single casks were released each year and pushed the whisky in different directions.

Berry Brothers sold Cutty Sark to The Edrington Group in 2010. This was followed by the Glenrothes distillery and single malt brand in 2017. The Edrington Group remains as owners today and continues to grow Glenrothes' popularity as a single malt. One controversial decision they took to aid growth was to ditch the vintage bottlings, instead favouring a more traditional age statement approach.

The distillery has a strange history of being badly damaged by fire or explosions. The first incident was a major fire in 1897 that caused damage to a new extension. Following this was a serious explosion in 1903, again causing extensive damage and a warehouse fire in 1922. The result of that incident was the loss of 900,000 litres of maturing whisky. The last fire was in 1962, partly destroying the still house. An expansion was the outcome with the ownership at the time taking the opportunity to build a new still house.