Speyside Distillery 2000 BA (Blackadder)

Blackadder bottled this Speyside Distillery single malt, an 18 year old from 2000, drawn from cask 2803 and bottled at 56.1%. Just 238 bottles were filled. Set on a former mill site by the River Tromie, the Speyside Distillery was raised single handed by a drystone mason over some twenty years. Its two small pot stills, among the smallest in Scotland, sit with the whole production under one roof.

It was drawn off short stills coaxed by hand towards a delicate make, for a clean, honeyed spirit of real finesse. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, lending honey and vanilla. At this age it is rounded and full, the fruit folded into a honeyed, waxy body. The cool upper Spey climate gives a slow, even maturation over the years. The distillery played the fictional Lagganmore in the BBC series Monarch of the Glen. The SPEY range and the dark Beinn Dubh are bottled by Harvey's of Edinburgh.

At its natural 56.1% it is concentrated. The refill oak lending honey and vanilla 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.