Glen Spey 11 Years Old 2009 Cask #110805728 (Duncan Taylor)

This Glen Spey was bottled by Duncan Taylor, an 11 year old, distilled in 2009, from cask 110805728, at 54.8%, one of 300 bottles. Glen Spey is a Speyside single malt, one of five distilleries in the town of Rothes. Its stills carry purifiers, which raise the reflux and return the heavier vapours for a lighter, cleaner spirit. James Stuart held the licence to Macallan at the time, and bought that distillery outright in 1886. The distillery is said to be watched over by the ghost of a soldier who died on the site.

Drawn off after a ferment of two to three days, building a light, fragrant spirit with a thread of nuttiness. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the gentle American oak letting the spirit lead. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the grassy spirit growing rounder and a touch waxy. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At a hearty 54.8% it carries real weight. Green grass, light honey and a nutty malt, lifted by a soft oak. It is grassy and gently nutty, the delicate spirit shining through. A long, grassy finish carries a light fruit and a nutty malt. This is a fresh, fragrant Speyside single malt.