Glen Spey 15 Years Old 2006 Cask #4830 (Alistair Walker Whisky Company)

The Alistair Walker Whisky Company bottled this Glen Spey, a 15 year old, distilled in 2006, from cask 4830, at 54.5%, one of 237 bottles. Glen Spey is a delicate, grassy Speyside single malt, light and clean in the glass. James Stuart held the licence to Macallan at the time, and bought that distillery outright in 1886. It passed to the London gin house W and A Gilbey in 1887, the first English firm to own a Scottish distillery.

The spirit was distilled in tall onion shaped stills, shaping a light body with a soft, waxy edge. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak quiet behind the fresh spirit. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds fruity esters of apple and a light tropical note over a nutty depth. Because the purifiers keep the spirit light, the cask shows clearly through the years. Years in oak round the spirit, the fresh notes deepening towards a nutty honey and orchard fruit.

At 54.5%, undiluted, it is deep and waxy. Green apple, hay and a soft cereal, over a gentle, creamy oak. Beneath it run fresh grass, light fruit and a nutty malt. A fresh finish closes on a nutty malt and a soft oak. This is the delicate, grassy malt of Rothes.