Glen Spey 17 Years Old 1990 Cask #DL 3900 (Douglas Laing)

Douglas Laing, the Glasgow family bottler, bottled this Glen Spey, distilled in 1990, from cask DL 3900, at 50%, one of 293 bottles. Glen Spey is a light, fragrant Speyside malt of fresh grass and a nutty malt. Its stills were doubled from two to four in the 1970 expansion, the make still light and grassy. It passed to the London gin house W and A Gilbey in 1887, the first English firm to own a Scottish distillery.

It was run slowly off the four copper stills, shaping a light body with a soft, waxy edge. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the gentle American oak letting the spirit lead. At oxidative maturity aldehydes lend a nutty edge while ellagitannins draw a gentle, drying grip across the malt. Active wood frames the fruit without ever crowding the delicate Speyside spirit. Years in oak round the spirit, the fresh notes deepening towards a nutty honey and orchard fruit.

Bottled at a cask strength 50%, it is concentrated. A clean, grassy sweetness with a nutty thread, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The body is light and clean, the fruit lifted by a gentle oak. The close is light and clean, grass over a gentle oak. This is a Speyside single malt of real lightness.