Glen Spey 12 Years Old 2010 Cask #805537A (Whisky Broker)

This Glen Spey was bottled by Whiskybroker.co.uk, a 12 year old, distilled in 2010, from cask 805537A, at 52%, one of 259 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. Its stills were doubled from two to four in the 1970 expansion, the make still light and grassy. It sits below the ruins of Castle Rothes, once the seat of the Earls of Rothes.

Run slowly off the four copper stills, shaping a light body with a soft, waxy edge. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the 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. Long ageing turns the green, herbal edge towards orchard fruit, honey and a gentle spice.

At its natural 52% it is rich and grassy. A clean, grassy sweetness with a nutty thread, lifted by a soft oak. The body is light and clean, the fruit lifted by a gentle oak. A fresh finish closes on a nutty malt and a soft oak. This is Glen Spey's clean, nutty Speyside character.