Glen Keith 25 Years Old 1997 Cask #72632 (Wilson & Morgan)

This Glen Keith was bottled by the Italian bottler Wilson and Morgan, a 25 year old, distilled in 1997, from cask 72632, bottled at 50.4%, one of 249 bottles. Glen Keith is a Speyside single malt from Keith, the first new Speyside distillery since the 1898 crash. Its first permanent single malt was released in 2017, the Distillery Edition.

The spirit was distilled from unpeated malt in tall, narrowing stills, for a clean make of orchard fruit and a soft honey. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and a touch of coconut from the lactones. In the oxidative, evaporative years concentration brings tropical fruit, honey and a waxy depth over the apple. Years in oak round the spirit, the green apple deepening to honey and tropical fruit. Its tall, narrowing stills give a light, fruity Speyside spirit. The light, fruity spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and fruit to the fore.

At its natural 50.4% it is concentrated. Baked apple, citrus and a creamy vanilla, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is light and clean, the fruit lifted by vanilla. Apple, pear and a soft oak see out the finish. This is a fresh, fruity Speyside malt from the Chivas stable.