Glen Spey 14 Years Old 2007 Cask #1 (Signatory)

This Glen Spey comes from Signatory Vintage, the Edinburgh house that now bottles at Edradour above Pitlochry, a 14 year old, distilled in 2007, from cask 1, at 46%, one of 722 bottles. Glen Spey is a Speyside single malt made on Doonie Burn water at Rothes. It is one of five distilleries in the whisky town of Rothes, in the heart of Speyside. It was founded in 1878 by the grain merchant James Stuart, who added stills to an old oatmeal mill. James Stuart held the licence to Macallan at the time, and bought that distillery outright in 1886.

The spirit was run slowly off the four copper stills, shaping a light body with a soft, waxy edge. It was matured in an Oloroso cask, the wood working into the light malt. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the hay softening towards a nutty honey. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow and delicate. A clean, grassy sweetness with a nutty thread, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Pear, hay and a creamy vanilla fill the middle. It finishes light, fresh and faintly nutty. This is a grassy Speyside malt of real delicacy.