Speyside SPEY Tenné Cask #Batch 4

An official single malt from the Speyside Distillery, drawn from cask Batch 4 and bottled at 57.5%. Just 1500 bottles were filled. Set close to the very source of the River Spey, the Speyside Distillery was slowly converted from an old mill by one stonemason. Short stills and a slow distillation are coaxed by hand towards a light, fruity spirit.

The spirit was made in small stills after a long, ester building fermentation, for a soft, fruity make from short stills. A wine cask held it, layering red fruit over the honeyed malt. Without an age statement, the malt is clean, fruity and gently honeyed. Sherry and Port wood suit the make well, lending dried and red fruit. The site was a working barley mill from the 1700s until 1965. A long fermentation builds the fruity esters that mark the house style. Set in the Cairngorm foothills, it counts among Scotland's prettiest distilleries.

At a natural 57.5% it is full and fruity. The Port cask adds plum, red berry and raisin, and a gentle vanilla and coconut from the wood, with apple, pear and heather honey. The mouthfeel is soft, the fruit carried on a honeyed body. A warming, fruity finish lingers. This is a fruity malt from one of Scotland's smallest distilleries.