Speyside 29 Years Old 1996 Cask #1900029 (Murray McDavid)

Murray McDavid bottled this Speyside Distillery single malt matured to 29 year old from 1996, drawn from cask 1900029 and bottled at 56.1%. The outturn was 265 bottles. Set at Drumguish by the River Tromie, the Speyside Distillery was painstakingly built by hand before its first spirit in 1990. Its two small pot stills, among the smallest in Scotland, sit with the whole production under one roof.

Distilled in two of the smallest pot stills in Scotland under a single roof, giving the delicate, floral spirit at its heart. Maturation in a Port cask lent plum and red berry. Decades leave it deep and mellow, honeyed wax and dried fruit with a soft spice. Years in oak round the spirit, the honey and orchard fruit deepening with age. The SPEY range and the dark Beinn Dubh are bottled by Harvey's of Edinburgh. Short stills and slow, hands on distillation coax a light, fruity spirit.

At cask strength 56.1% it is full bodied. The wine cask lends dark berry and a spiced edge, and vanilla and a creamy note from the barrel runs under honey, apple and a soft spice. It is fragrant and rounded, the fruit and oak well matched. A warming, fruity finish lingers. This is a clean, fragrant Speyside single malt.