My third sample from our sixth round of distillery samples comes from the actual Speyside Distillery. Beinn Dubh translates as “black mountain” and refers to Ben Macdui, the name of the highest peak in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland. This whisky is in honor of Prof. Norman Collie’s solo climb to the peak back in 1891 and his encounter with The Big Grey Man- a mystical man-beast said to roam the fog covered mountain and chase away climbers and locals alike. Shortly after his climb, locals distilled this dark whisky and drank it in hopes of warding off evil spirits. Speyside Distillery began releasing this several years ago as a single malt since the majority of their stuff is primarily for blends. Beinn Dubh is very dark and creates lots of skinny legs in the glass. It’s obviously heavily colored to create the deep, black color reminiscent of soda pop- despite being finished in port pipes. It’s bottled at 43% ABV. I’m sure it’s also chill filtered. The nose is mostly burnt sugar, licorice, musty oak and grape must. I want to say there is a bit of a cola flavor present as well, but I think it may be more subliminal due to the color. The longer it sits, the more grape aromas start to waft from the Glencairn. It still retains an old, musty smell no matter how long you let it rest. It’s not a negative, just an observation. The palate is dark and deep, with some wine notes and a strong oak cask backbone. The old and musty notes follow into the mouth and make this stuff feel well aged, even though it’s a NAS. The mouthfeel is oily and warm and that same depth creeps into every corner of your mouth and follows it down into the finish. The finish is medium in length, oily and warm while continuing the oak bitterness and dry wine feel. I can’t get over how it feels so well aged, knowing it isn’t. That’s a great job by the master blender at the distillery. This doesn’t seem like a $45 bottle from a blend-heavy distillery. Once the notes begin to fade, however, it seems like you haven’t been sipping whisky at all. It’s weird. Overall, for $45 I think it’s a great deal. It’s like a magic show- it left me scratching my head how they pulled off such a depth in feeling while keeping the malts used very young and price point rather low. I wanna give it 4 stars because of VFM, but knowing it’s a cheap whisky makes me wanna strike it a bit. I don’t know- 3.5-3.75 stars. Decent stuff. Cheers.