Speyside Distilleries

April 3rd 2020 Meeting: Speyside

The second meeting of the Virtual Whisky tasting group took place on Friday, April 3rd at 9pm ET. Again, we focused on Scottish malt Whisky, with the spotlight this time being on the Speyside region. There is a lot to be said about Speyside, so please read on below.

About Speyside

The Strathspey region of Scotland sits to the Northwest of Aberdeen, and is commonly referred to as Speyside, especially when referring to malt whisky. It’s probably the most famous of the whisky producing regions, with around 50 distilleries and some very famous brands, including Macallan, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet and Balvenie, some of which insist prefixing “The” to their names.

Although there’s a broad range of variants, Speyside malts tend to be split between the light, citrus-based whiskies such as Glenlivet and the rich, oaky, sherried drams like the Macallan. As is the case with many distilleries, there are now numerous cask finishes and bottlings to expand the range. There are even some subtle, peaty malts coming out of Speyside now, including The Balvenie Week of Peat and Old Ballantruan from Tomintoul.

Drinking – Speyside

Mortlach 15yo

Glenrothes 91

Benromach 10yo

Balvenie DoubleWood

Cragganmore 12yo

Macallan 12yo

The Glenlivet 12yo

Glenfarclas 21

Other Spirits Discussed

Bumbu Rum (again)

Irish Hot Whiskey

Fullers London Pride

Aberfeldy Malt

The Classic Malts Range

Hibiki Japanese Malt

Kraken Rum

Drambuie / Glayva

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye

Other

Nicholas Wine Club

Jack Rose DC

Brandy Library NYC

Dead Rabbit NYC

The Famous Grouse

Mash + Grape

About the author: Tom Q

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