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The Glenrothes rebrands Alba Reserve ahead of UK release

Published:  21 March, 2016

Award-winning Speyside distillery The Glenrothes has rebranded its Alba Reserve expression ahead of its release in the UK.

The whisky is now known as The Glenrothes Bourbon Cask Reserve.

The name change has been driven by a focus on clarity and transparency in consumer communication.

The newly rebranded whisky is now aligned more closely with the other expressions in The Glenrothes Reserve Collection to which it belongs: the Sherry Cask Reserve, the Peated Cask Reserve and the Vintage Reserve.

Bourbon Cask Reserve is matured exclusively in American oak refill bourbon casks, which makes it eligible to be the first certified kosher whisky from the distillery.

The Glenrothes' normal wood policy uses a combination of Spanish and American oak, seasoned with sherry, bourbon and refill Scotch.

Despite the level of residual sherry in The Glenrothes measuring no more than 1,250 parts per million, even that disqualifies the distillery's whisky from earning the certification because sherry is not kosher.

Bourbon Cask Reserve was first authenticated by Rabbi Padwa of the London Beth Din in March 2009 and has been re-certified annually thereafter.

A stamp from the London Beth Din certifying the whisky's kosher status appears on the back label.

As Alba Reserve, the Bourbon Cask Reserve won a double gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Doug McIvor, spirits buyer for Berry Bros. & Rudd, which owns The Glenrothes, said: "The Bourbon Cask Reserve hits all the right notes. The most soft, succulent, sweet and satisfying Speyside single malt I have ever come across."

The Glenrothes was founded in 1879 and acquired by Berry Bros & Rudd in the early 1990s.

Only 3% of the distillery's capacity is bottled as single malt.

Other key brands in the Berry Bros & Rudd spirits portfolio include Penny Blue XO, Single Estate Mauritian Rum, the Pink Pigeon Rum, No.3 London Dry Gin and King's Ginger Liqueur.

The Glenrothes Bourbon Cask Reserve is already available in the US and will be gradually rolled out into key markets, including the UK, where it will retail at £45 per 70cl bottle.

It is bottled with an abv of 40%.

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