Speyside SPEY 2014 Cask #271

A distillery bottling from the Speyside Distillery, aged 5 year old from 2014, drawn from cask 271 and bottled at 57.1%. 350 bottles in all. The Speyside Distillery was raised single handed by a drystone mason over some twenty years on a former mill site by the River Tromie, and it has made the SPEY and Beinn Dubh malts for the Harvey's family. 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. Ex-Sherry wood added a dried fruit richness to the make. At a youthful age the orchard fruit is lively and the malt delicate. The cool upper Spey climate gives a slow, even maturation over the years.

Bottled at a cask strength 57.1%, it is rich. The Oloroso brings dried fruit, fig and a nutty depth, and 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 long, honeyed finish carries a fruity lift. This is a clean, fragrant Speyside single malt.