Glen Spey 2000 12 Year Cask #265 (Berry Bros. & Rudd)

Thank goodness, a Friday night, once again, finds me to pour this sample from the SDT group. This was provided by @Generously_Paul This would be my first venture into the Glen Spey line. The nose is pure freshly cut wood (like @LeeEvolved spot-on noted) or sappy, wet pine. Some cedar deep down. Lemon-lime citrus. Grassy/vegetal earthiness. A definite rawness or youthful quality. A rough greeting to the palate. Oily and medium in density. Funky, synthetic yet still earthy. Green grass, white pepper. There is some honey and butterscotch sweetness that comes through midway through, though brief. Three word finish: Rubber hose, white pepper, celery. This has no real satisfactory quality. Though 12 years listed, it comes through as a five year old. Raw and vegetal. Maybe as a mixer (scotch and soda) it may work better. But why would I pay $70 for a mixer where I get better flavors from a blend for a mixer. Is it horrid or undrinkable? No. But there is no real appeal. [75/100][Tasted: 3/2/18]

Subtle nose with vegetative notes, sage, vanilla and mint. The palate had a light mouth coat, but a ton of herbal chewy greens, grass, and low key sweetness. Dry short finish of butterscotch, and cream. It's a summer drink that needs to be paired with food. After a couple drops of water, it didn't help the nose, and brought out more medicinal qualities on the short finish. This is a 2.75, but only because I think the sweetness brought some balance. The theme of this dram should be "We Are The Vegetables" by INXS from when they were a punk band. Thanks @Generously_Paul for the sample.

As we continue to work our way towards the distillery sample finish line, Paul graciously sent this Speysider from (ironically enough): Glen Spey. This 12 year old sample was from an independent bottler, Berry Bros & Rudd. It hits the ABV sweet spot of 46%, is American light beer, pale yellow in color and makes lots of long, skinny legs in the taster. There’s no added color and it’s non-chill filtered. The nose is seriously woody: raw, fresh cut oak or pine, baby saplings with a little bit of lemon and cracked pepper. The key adjective would be: Youthful. The palate echoes the nose and adds a bit of minerality. It’s somewhat sharp and tin-like while staying surprisingly smooth, especially for 46%. It maintains a bit of an oily feel until the finish. Speaking of finish- it’s medium in length that turns from oily to dry quite quickly. There’s no aspect of heat or alcohol burn whatsoever. Overall, it’s boring. I can see why most of Glen Spey’s whisky goes into blends, I just don’t really know what they may add unless there’s extensive barrel finishing from the other malts used in the blend. At 12 years of age I would expect something other than intrinsic smoothness, but I think that’s where this one falls short. There’s no risk taking at Glen Spey and, well- what’s the fun in that? Thanks again to @Generously_Paul for dropping down his hard earned money for the greater good, let’s just keep our eye on the finish line shall we? Cheers.

This was a hot freakin mess. Grass, old vegetables left in the bin, decent helping of asphalt. Part of our trading team round 5, this provided by @Generously_Paul. Note to others on the trading team: have this early in the round. On the bright side...my Girvan still holds the title of “most likely to be spat out”. This wasn’t quite at that Girvan’s level

After over week long battle with the flu I’m back to my old reviewing ways. The first one after my recovery just so happens to be the first of round 5 of our Scottish Distillery Tour. Stop number 64 is Glen Spey. This Speyside distillery is Diageo owned and produces precious few official bottlings. The vast majority of their production goes into J&B Rare blends. This single malt comes from the independent bottlers at Berry Brothers & Rudd. 12 years old, distilled in 2000, bottled in 2013 from cask number 265, which I assume means it is single cask. Bottled at 46% ABV and is non chill filtered and natural color of a very pale straw. Wow, this is a very peculiar nose. To the eye this may be straw colored, but the nose is green, green, green. Green oak and wood resin/sap. Grassy and very herbal with oregano and basil. It’s also quite vegetal. Cooked celery and water chestnuts. Almonds, marzipan with a faint honey note. A fleeting sweetness like old raisins and faint apricots. Earthy, like root vegetables that were just pulled from the garden and you haven’t even washed them off yet. A very unique nose. Not entirely pleasant, but unlike anything I’ve ever had before. I added a drop or two of water and it brought out a weak ginger and lemon oil, but mostly amplified the vegetal notes. The palate very much echoes the nose. Vegetal, celery and water chestnuts with a touch of fennel. Green oak and a dash of honey. Green grass, earthy with a dusting of pepper. A far away sweetness that never really materializes due to the overwhelming vegetal notes. A sort of mineral note as well. A light to medium bodied mouthfeel. Mouthwatering at first but turns a little dry with a fizzy or fuzzy feel to it. Almost as if it’s very lightly carbonated. Strange. The finish is short and long at the same time. In the short I got almonds, grass, herbs and a light mint. The vegetal and mineral notes and green oak seem to go on forever, and that’s not really a good thing. Not at all what I was expecting from a Speysider. Such odd notes and a strange profile. I don’t really know if this is indicative of the distillery character or if this is just a bad cask choice (or both). Perhaps they should have skipped cask 265 and gone with 266. Another miss from an independent bottler. At $70 this is an even bigger miss. Not that I would really have the opportunity, but I would absolutely not buy another bottle. 2.5 Cheers