Glen Spey 32 Years Old 1988 Cask #7005 (Meadowside Blending)

A 32 year old Glen Spey from Meadowside Blending, distilled in 1988, from cask 7005, at 43.8%, a festival cask. Glen Spey is a Speyside single malt, most of it long destined for the blender's vat. Its water is the Doonie Burn, a source it shares with its Rothes neighbours. Under Gilbey it took the Glen Spey name and supplied the house Spey Royal blend.

Distilled in tall onion shaped stills, the purifiers paring it back to a light, grassy core. It was matured in a Moscatel cask, the wood working into the light malt. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon. Maturation in the racked warehouses is slow and even, the Speyside air cool and steady. Built for the blender's art, the light make ages with quiet grace as a single malt. Active wood frames the fruit without ever crowding the delicate Speyside spirit.

At 43.8%, undiluted, it is deep and waxy. Fresh cut grass, green apple and a nutty malt, with a grapey, floral sweetness from the cask. The body is light and clean, the fruit lifted by a gentle oak. Green apple, grass and a soft oak see it out. This is the delicate, grassy malt of Rothes.