Glen Spey 12 Years Old 2008 Cask #362234 (James Eadie)

James Eadie bottled this Glen Spey, a 12 year old, distilled in 2008, from cask 362234, at 59.1%, one of 339 bottles. Glen Spey is a delicate, grassy Speyside single malt, light and clean in the glass. Its water is the Doonie Burn, a source it shares with its Rothes neighbours. When the firm merged with Justerini and Brooks, Glen Spey became a key malt in the J and B blend.

It was taken gently through wash and spirit stills, for a fine, clean malt the blenders have long prized. Finished in an Oloroso cask, the wood building on the light spirit. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the hay softening towards a nutty honey. Built for the blender's art, the light make ages with quiet grace as a single malt. Because the purifiers keep the spirit light, the cask shows clearly through the years. Active wood frames the fruit without ever crowding the delicate Speyside spirit.

At a natural 59.1% it is full and nutty. Green grass, light honey and a nutty malt, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run fresh grass, light fruit and a nutty malt. The finish is rounded, nutty and clean. This is a quiet, characterful Speyside single malt.