Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Speyside

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Speyside distillery
Speyside Distillery
Glen Tromie, Kingussie
Inverness-shire PH21 1NS
+44 1540 661 060
Owner: Speyside Distillery Co. Ltd
Creation date 1990
Picture: courtesy of the distillery

Web site picturescomments

Despite its evocative name, this distillery is not considered by everybody to be geographically settled in the Speyside area. But the river Spey flows behind the distillery. The Speyside distillery is the closest to the burn of the Speyside river so it really deserves to be considered as a being part of the Speyside area.
George Christie founded the blending company "Speyside Distillery and Bonding" in 1955. Speyside stills
In reality, even if the distillery is not settled in the traditional Speyside area, the distillery is the closest distillery to the source of the River Spey ( the River Tromie), and it even has a view on the Spey.

One year later, he acquired the ground called "Old Milton Estate" in Glen Tromie, on which the village Drumguish and the old mill who made floor for the village people up to 1949 were settled. This old mill was build in 1710 and currently houses the office of the distillery's director.
To insure a constant quality to their blends, the Christie family decided to create their own malt distillery in a building settled on their property. This construction has been build by Alex Fairly alone, and it took him 25 years to achieve it. He used the dry-stone dyking method, which was labor-intensive, but resulted in a beautifully handcrafted building.
About 20% of the production is marketed as single malt under the name Drumguish, and the remaining part is sas kept for ageing or is used in the blends Speyside and the vatted malt Glentromie. But nowadays, there is no blend produced anymore by the distillery. The remaining 80% are used now for the Speyside Single Malt which was available as a 10 y.o. but now solely available as a 12 y.o.
The distillery owners also buy and bottle casks for Scott's Selection.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

Speyside
whisky
O.B. 10 years 15 2/3
12 years 17
MacY Cu Dhub 14
Scott's Selection Scott's Selection 1991 17
See Help 0 - 40 € 40 - 80 € 80 - 120 € 120 - 160 € 160 - 200 € 200 - 240 € 240 - 280 € > 280 €
 

See also the tasting notes of the samples the distillery gave me so kindly during my visit

Speyside: embouteillages officiels
 

Speyside 10 years

Age
 10 years
Alcohol
 40°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
 Speyside 10
 Nose:Pronounced oily nuttiness.
Palate:Sweet, buttery, rich. Some cream toffee, cookies and caramel.
Finish:Faintly kirsch-like fruitiness.
The nose is pronounced, with some malt hints and something else which I not really can recognise, followed by a pleasant and sweet palate feeling (caramel?) and by a finish of average length make from a dram of this whisky  a pleasant moment, however this bottling is not a must in any collection.

The relatively simple nose is marked by malt and some slight hints of ripe fruits. In the palate, a rather pleasant taste with some touches of bitterness (walnut?) and a general great flatness. No sup rise. The same conclusions for the finish. Gentle finish but nothing more, and the same bitterness stays in mind for some short instants...

The nose is very fruity, something between pear and green apple with a hint of pepper. It is quite fresh, touches of cut grass on a woody background.
In the mouth, the first impression is dryness, and clear woody hints are present, with however a kind of smoothness contrasting with the bitterness of the wood. A nice finish, fruity and rather long.
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Speyside 12 years

Age
 12 years
Alcohol
 40°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
Speyside 12
See tasting note on the page dedicated to the samples the distillery was so kind do give me.
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Independant bottlings Speyside

Speyside
1991
Scott's Selection
Age
 13 years
Alcohol
 61,1°
Bottler
 Scott's Selection
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros
Speyside Scott's selection
The nose is very fresh and rather rich, slighlty acid and with some nice hints of fruit and cut grass. The mouth is first very fruity, remaining pear alcohol, but rather smooth too despite the very high percentage of alcohol. The finish is warm and very pleasant, still on pear flavors with later some malty whiffs. A very good bottle, even if it is not really within my own taste pattern, as I'm not a fan of too fruity whiskies.

The nose is clearly marked by spices and cereals. Then some fruity smells and discrete vanilla hints appear. Mouth is somewhere between the malt smoothness and the vanilla on one hand and some acidity and bitterness on the other hand. Not citrus acidity, but something different. A bitter but quite a nice acidity. The finish is long and both slightly bitter and rather smooth, marked a bit by the alcohol.
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Cu Dhub
Age
 no age statement
Alcohol
 40°
Bottler
 MacY
=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
 
 This is a whisky from the Speyside distillery to which black caramel has been added by a Danish importer to give it an unusual colour.
This is the only black whisky currently available since Loch Dhu stopped marketing of their black whisky some years ago.
For more information on the birth of this new "Black Whisky", please have a look on the site of the Danish importer: MacY

 

 I didn't really expect much from this whisky "doctored" in order to give it an unusual colour. The colour is like coffee or cola. Not really exciting for a classic whisky lover. However the nose detects interesting aromas, between malt and spices, with slightly acid hints. The caramel addition is quick forgotten. It is a good original whisky. The taste confirms the first nose impressions. The finish is a little bit short. To make a long story short, beyond the colour gadget, this whisky is very pleasant and does not spoil a collection which is not afraid to venture off the beaten track.

During the second tasting, the rather sweet nose shows clear lacks at refinement and complexity. The original smell of the Speyside is hidden by the abnormal addition of caramel, in order to obtain the characteristic colour. In the palate, the impression is very fuzzy, between caramel and immoderate sugar, recalling the home made aperitifs, where some quinine hints appear above a kind of sweet syrup. There is nearly no finish. The first quotation seems to be totally unjustified. It has probably due to the fact I expected even less of this bottle. This bottle is to avoid, and its only interest is its unusual black colour. This is also a kind of gadget.
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Speyside

Speyside Map

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
about the Speyside area, and if you want to make an "alphabetical journey" through the area, please
click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow

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