Glen Spey 2013 IN2S (IN2Spirit (IN2S))

A Glen Spey of a 10 year old chosen by IN2Spirit, distilled in 2013, from cask 802769A, at 53.2%, one of 176 bottles. Glen Spey is a delicate, grassy Speyside single malt, light and clean in the glass. When the firm merged with Justerini and Brooks, Glen Spey became a key malt in the J and B blend. It was bottled as a single malt in Diageo's Flora and Fauna range in 2001, one of its rare official outings.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a fine, clean malt the blenders have long prized. It was matured in an Amontillado 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. A light oiliness carries a waxy thread through the long, slow maturation.

At 53.2%, undiluted, it is deep and waxy. Green grass, light honey and a nutty malt, with a dry, nutty, almond edge from the cask. Soft meadow grass and a nutty malt sit behind the cask. A fresh finish closes on a nutty malt and a soft oak. This is the delicate, grassy malt of Rothes.