Glen Spey 2013 IN2S (IN2Spirit (IN2S)) (53.2%)

A 10 year old Glen Spey from IN2Spirit, distilled in 2013, from cask 802769B, at 53.2%, one of 167 bottles. Glen Spey is a Speyside single malt made on Doonie Burn water at Rothes. Most of its spirit goes to blends; single malt Glen Spey is rare, and largely the work of independents. Under Gilbey it took the Glen Spey name and supplied the house Spey Royal blend. It sits below the ruins of Castle Rothes, once the seat of the Earls of Rothes. It is one of five distilleries in the whisky town of Rothes, in the heart of Speyside.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a fine, clean malt the blenders have long prized. It was matured in a Pedro Ximenez cask, the wood working into the light malt. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the grassy spirit growing rounder and a touch waxy. Maturation in the racked warehouses is slow and even, the Speyside air cool and steady.

At a hearty 53.2% it carries real weight. A light meadow grass and orchard fruit, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. Soft meadow grass and a nutty malt sit behind the cask. The close is light and clean, grass over a gentle oak. This is a Speyside single malt of real lightness.