Glen Spey 9 Years Old 2009 Cask #804609 (Meadowside Blending)

A Glen Spey of a 9 year old chosen by Meadowside Blending, distilled in 2009, from cask 804609, at 55.4%, one of 366 bottles. Glen Spey is a Speyside single malt, most of it long destined for the blender's vat. James Stuart held the licence to Macallan at the time, and bought that distillery outright in 1886.

It was distilled in tall onion shaped stills, for a fine, clean malt the blenders have long prized. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak quiet behind the fresh spirit. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin and toasted sugars over the clean, nutty spirit. Active wood frames the fruit without ever crowding the delicate Speyside spirit. Maturation in the racked warehouses is slow and even, the Speyside air cool and steady. Years in oak round the spirit, the fresh notes deepening towards a nutty honey and orchard fruit.

At its natural 55.4% it is rich and grassy. Green grass, light honey and a nutty malt, lifted by a soft oak. The body is light and clean, the fruit lifted by a gentle oak. A long, grassy finish carries a light fruit and a nutty malt. This is a grassy Speyside malt of real delicacy.