December 14, 2015

Austere Glen Spey

There’s a little more Glen Spey around these days, or so it seems. Let’s try three or four of them…

Glen Spey 17 yo (46%, Duthies, 312 bottles, +/-2013)

A moderately priced bottling from the now discontinued (AFAIK) Duthies range by WM Cadenhead. Colour: white wine. Nose: it’s rather raw and ‘natural’ malt whisky, full of porridge, grass, sawdust, and chalk. Not much else to add, this is naked yet unsexy malt whisky, I’d say. Mouth: quite to my liking, very grassy and pretty peppery. Something pungent. More grass, then more grapefruits. Lemongrass, a little sawdust again, lemon sweets, more chalk… Very natural indeed. Finish: rather long, zesty and sharp, on citrus and even more chalk. Some white pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: fine grassy malt whisky au naturel, a bit rough but that’s probably part of this game. SGP:461 - 80 points.

Glen Spey 27 yo 1988/2015 (47.7%, Sansibar and S Spirits Shop, bourbon, 198 bottles)

A samurai’s drink, apparently. Colour: white wine. Nose: there are many similarities, all around grass and sharp citrus and clay or chalk. The main difference lies in the fruitiness that’s growing more obvious in this older baby, around pineapples and even strawberries (gums). But it’s not a fruit bomb. A pleasant minerality behind all that, with more clay, fresh concrete… Mouth: it’s very citrusy! Sharp lime, then bitter grasses, walnuts, and always this chalkiness. Very tight, even if it started sweeter and fruitier. Finish: quite long, ultra-lemony, with a peppery aftertaste. Comments: one of the those sauvignony malt whiskies. More than good, I think. SGP:461 - 83 points.

Glen Spey 18 yo 1997/2015 (50%, Hunter Laing, Old Malt Cask, refill hogshead, cask #11192, 297 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: this one’s even grassier than the others, even more austere, chalkier as well… But I don’t seem to detect much fruitiness. Grapefruit skin, perhaps. With water: we’re going closer to the Duthie. Grass, chalk, porridge. Mouth (neat): sour, very grassy, with a feeling of dairy cream and aspirin tablets. A little barley sugar. With water: sweeter, barleyish. Rather cider apples this time. Finish: medium, malty, barleyish. A little candy sugar with water. Comments: honest and loyal natural malt whisky. Typical 80 points in my book. SGP:461 - 80 points.

A last one…

Glen Spey-Glenlivet 19 yo 1995/2015 (58.8%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon hogshead, 480 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: yet again, this is an austere one, but this time we’re more on leather, grass, grapefruit and lemon skin (rubbed), and then we find whiffs of fennel and dill, which makes it a little ‘different’ indeed. With water: the fennel became mint and aniseed. A touch of camphor. Mouth (neat): starts as fizzy as Fanta, mustardy, mineral, chalky again, with some odd notes of peach syrup that aren’t un-nice at all. Some coffee too, which is funny in this context. With water: always this fizzy profile, Schweppes-orange, cinchona… Finish: quite long. Lemon and liquorice? Pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: may we call this style ‘out of fashion’? Malt for hipsters? SGP:561 - 84 points.

Check the index of all Glen Spey I've tasted so far