Four lucky people will get the chance to become The Glenrothes Whisky Maker for a week following a worldwide competition launched this week. The successful candidates will be recruited to work as The Glenrothes Whisky Makers in the heart of single malt production, Speyside, Scotland.

As part of this opportunity, the successful candidates will learn the time-honoured art of making The Glenrothes and the time-honoured skills that have been passed down from generation to generation. The winners will spend time working at each stage of the whisky-making process: testing the purity of the water source at the distillery’s two springs; milling the malt to achieve the golden proportions of husk, grits and flour; mashing to ensure maximum extraction of sugars in the wort; adding yeast to the washbacks and overseeing fermentation; slowly and carefully distilling new make spirit in our tall copper pot stills. From there the winning Whisky Makers will be involved in making casks at the cooperage, laying down casks for maturation and rolling casks to the warehouse.

The Whisky Makers will nose single malt from maturing casks to assess whether the contents are of sufficiently exceptional quality and maturity; only the top 2% of the distillery’s output is bottled as The Glenrothes Speyside Single Malt Whisky. Finally, the Whisky Makers will have the opportunity to create their very own selection of The Glenrothes – a unique bottle with their own hand-written tasting notes on the label.

After work, the Whisky Makers will enjoy the simple pleasures that Speyside has to offer; a spot of fishing, dining in the local Highland restaurants or perhaps a picnic in the hills surrounding the distillery. The Whisky Makers will stay in Rothes House, a private home belonging to the family that owns The Glenrothes. As with the distillery, Rothes House is not open to the public but is reserved for VIP visits. After making their own bottle of The Glenrothes, our whisky makers will spend their final day of the trip in Edinburgh, visiting The Scotch Whisky Experience and having dinner with Scotland’s pre-eminent whisky writer, Charles MacLean.

Entry is simple; entrants supply their name and personal details and then be invited to answer in 50 words or fewer why they are the perfect candidate for the job. Hundreds of runners-up prizes will be offered too. Entries will be accepted in English, Spanish and Chinese.

The competition will run until 31st January 2011 and can be entered at http://www.theglenrothes.com/uk/whiskymaker/