Speyside (Spey)
Having only been founded in 1976, Speyside is one of the newest distilleries in Scotland. However, it took more than two decades from the founding of the distillery for construction on the site to be finished. The origins of the distillery date back to 1956, when George Christie, the distillery's founder, bought the piece of land on which he intended to build the distillery on.
| Information about the Distillery | |
|---|---|
| Scotland, Speyside | |
| -4.002370 57.072708 | |
| Active | |
| 4 t | |
| 1965 | |
| 600,000 l | |
| http://www.speysidedistillery.co.uk/ |
| Average tasting notes Tasting notes |
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|---|---|---|
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Nosing
Sweet:
Fruit:
Sweet:
Fruit:
Sherry:
Malt:
Vanilla:
Vanilla:
Herbs:
Caramel:
Barley:
Spices:
Caramel:
Raisin:
Peat Smoke:
Malt:
Oak:
Grape:
Honey:
Sherry:
Herbs:
Floral:
Oak:
Spices:
Raisin:
Chocolate:
Barley:
Dried Fruit:
Chocolate:
Floral:
Dried Fruit:
Zitrus:
Nuts:
Grape:
Zitrus:
Plum:
Honey:
Herb:
Berries:
Alcohol:
Peat Smoke:
Herb:
Mint:
Tropical Fruit:
Alcohol:
Pear:
Pear:
Tropical Fruit:
Berries:
Medicinal Smoke:
Seaweed:
Iodine:
Pineapple:
Medicinal Smoke:
Seaweed:
Pepper:
Pepper:
Dark Chocolate:
Almonds:
Pineapple:
Maritime Notes:
Maritime Notes:
Iodine:
Leather:
Peach:
Nuts:
Plum:
Wheat:
Leather:
Peach:
Cinnamon:
Dark Chocolate:
Orange:
Orange:
Cinnamon:
Oil:
Mint:
Heather:
Strawberry:
Strawberry:
Oil:
Wheat:
Heather:
Apple:
Black Currant:
Coffee:
Tobacco:
Chili:
Chili:
Anis:
Black Currant:
Apple:
Tobacco:
Tasting
Sweet:
Spices:
Sweet:
Fruit:
Nuts:
Sherry:
Spices:
Oil:
Peat Smoke:
Fruit:
Oak:
Vanilla:
Oil:
Chocolate:
Caramel:
Herbs:
Herb:
Sherry:
Peat Smoke:
Nuts:
Chocolate:
Herb:
Oak:
Vanilla:
Herbs:
Hazelnut:
Malt:
Honey:
Caramel:
Pepper:
Honey:
Dark Chocolate:
Dried Fruit:
Zitrus:
Alcohol:
Pepper:
Zitrus:
Malt:
Dried Fruit:
Mint:
Mint:
Dark Chocolate:
Hazelnut:
Alcohol:
Raisin:
Raisin:
Maritime Notes:
Orange:
Maritime Notes:
Cake:
Orange:
Coffee:
Floral:
Salt:
Floral:
Salt:
Chili:
Cherry:
Chili:
Coffee:
Fig:
Heather:
Barley:
Fig:
Ginger:
Anis:
Melon:
Ginger:
Cinnamon:
Berries:
Berries:
Heather:
Cake:
Cinnamon:
Cherry:
Apple:
Plum:
Blackberry:
Tobacco:
Tobacco:
Almonds:
Apple:
Grape:
Date:
Grass:
Wheat:
Nutmeg:
Pear:
Grass:
Almonds:
Grape:
Plum:
Hay:
Blackberry:
Date:
Leather:
Leather:
Wheat:
Hay:
Nutmeg:
Pear:
Iodine:
Iodine:
Finish
Sweet:
Sweet:
Oak:
Spices:
Sherry:
Oak:
Peat Smoke:
Vanilla:
Nuts:
Caramel:
Peat Smoke:
Sherry:
Zitrus:
Fruit:
Caramel:
Malt:
Chocolate:
Spices:
Pepper:
Herb:
Oil:
Herbs:
Pepper:
Vanilla:
Oil:
Chocolate:
Herbs:
Herb:
Dark Chocolate:
Malt:
Dark Chocolate:
Floral:
Orange:
Zitrus:
Floral:
Dried Fruit:
Fruit:
Nuts:
Orange:
Honey:
Ginger:
Cinnamon:
Honey:
Cinnamon:
Ginger:
Banana:
Barley:
Lime:
Alcohol:
Lime:
Banana:
Wheat:
Lemon:
Dried Fruit:
Alcohol:
Chili:
Coffee:
Chili:
Salt:
Berries:
Salt:
Heather:
Maritime Notes:
Leather:
Raisin:
Raisin:
Coffee:
Berries:
Maritime Notes:
Almonds:
Black Currant:
Grass:
Mint:
Fig:
Black Currant:
Almonds:
Grass:
Fig:
Heather:
Walnut:
Hay:
Leather:
Hay:
Walnut:
Mint:
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The Whisky
Speyside distillery is located, unsurprisingly, in the Speyside region of Scotland. Under the brand Speyside, the distillery has released a small range of official bottlings that include an 8 year old, 10 year old, 12 year old, and a 15 year old. In addition to the Speyside Single Malt, the distillery also produces another Single Malt, called Drumguish.
The distillery was sold in September 2012 to John Harvey McDonough, who also own Harvey's of Edinburgh. This company sold already the Single Malt quite successful under the Label Spey to Taiwan. The old range of Speyside bottles were discontinued and a new range of Spey bottles released. Today they offer a Tenné, a 12 years old, an 18 years old and two special bottlings called Chairman's Choice and Royal Choice.
The Production
Speyside distillery draws its water from the River Tromie, which flows next to the site. The distillery stands at a capacity of 600,000 liters a year. Speyside is widely acknowledged as being one of the prettiest distilleries in Scotland, being a small, intimate site nestled in a Speyside wood. The site actually operates with one of the smallest production teams in the country, standing at just four members.
The Pot Stills
Speyside has one wash and one spirit still. The wash still has a capacity of 11,000 liters, and the spirit stills has a capacity of 7,000. Both of the pot stills have a traditional 'Speyside' shape, with wide, spherical lids and tall, conical necks.
The Maltings
The malt used in the production of Speyside is lightly peated. The site uses the 'Chariot' barley variety, and purchases its malt from a local industrial source.
The Warehouses
Speyside distillery has a traditional dunnage warehouse on site, where their Single Malt is aged. The distillery uses a combination of American white oak and Sherry casks in which to mature the Single Malt.
The History
Having only been founded in 1976, Speyside is one of the newest distilleries in Scotland. However, it took more than two decades from the founding of the distillery for construction on the site to be finished. The origins of the distillery date back to 1956, when George Christie, the distillery's founder, bought the piece of land on which he intended to build the distillery on. In the next year, 1957, Christie founded a Grain distillery in the nearby town of Alloa, which prevented production from going ahead on the Speyside site. In 1962, construction at the site finally began when Christie commissioned a Drystone dyker to build a distillery on the site.
The construction took over two decades and was finally completed in 1987, but the first distillation didn't occur on the site until 1990. One of the reasons that the production took so long was that it was built with mainly private investment, which took far longer to gather the capital to work on the site than it would have done had it been run by a funded company.
In 1993, the site released its first Single Malt, Drumguish. As the turn of the century approached, the distillery increased its number of releases, launching the Speyside 10 year old Single Malt for the first time. In 2000, Speyside distillery was sold to a group of private investors, including Ricky Christie, Ian Jerman and Sir James Ackroyd, who make up the Speyside Distillery Company. The Company has continued to expand the collection since their acquisition of the site, developing the Speyside Single Malt bottling, the first expression of which was released in 2001.
In 2012 the distillery was sold again to Harvey's of Edinburgh. The Name Speyside for the bottles was replaced by Spey.
Visitor’s Centre
Sadly there is no official visitor's centre at Speyside, and the site isn't open to the public.
Speyside Distillers Company Ltd
197 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4HU
Tel: +44(0)141-2213745
User Notes about the Distillery
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