Speyside Distillery 1998 KI (Kirsch Import)

This is a Speyside Distillery single malt, chosen and bottled by Kirsch Import, aged 23 year old from 1998, drawn from cask KI-0005 and bottled at 49.9%. The Speyside Distillery, hand built near Kingussie and first run in 1990 near Kingussie in the upper Spey valley, is the source of the SPEY malts. It is the most southerly of the Speyside distilleries, nearest of all to the source of the Spey.

It was worked slowly through short stills to keep the spirit light, for the light, fruity Speyside make the distillery is known for. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, lending honey and vanilla. Beyond sixteen years the malt grows deep and honeyed, dried fruit and oak spice over orchard fruit. Maturation in the Highland air gives a clean, unhurried development. George Christie bought the land in 1956, dreaming of his own small malt distillery. A stonemason, Alex Fairlie, laid every stone of the distillery by hand over some twenty years.

At a full 49.9% it is intense yet fruity. A light, fruity sweetness meet honeyed oak sweetness underneath. Beneath it run apple, honey and a soft spice. A fruity, gently spiced finish lingers. This is a light, fruity Speyside single malt.