The variety in character and style
in Speyside is incredible. There are no simple
'giveaways' like the peat and smoke in Islay malts, at least not anything my roughly
calibrated senses could pick up. Speyside malts usually do have plenty of nose, but
please note this isn't always a good thing. It actually is with most of the 'Speyside'
distilleries, but in the case of the generically named 'Speyside' distillery (founded a
few decades ago) their mediocre whisky could have been a tad less expressive, as
far as I'm concerned. After more than a decade of 'seond chances', I still haven't
found one single expression from this distillery that I could actually recommend...
Over 50% of all malt whisky distilleries in Scotland are
located in the central 'Speyside' region alone. The Speyside
region itself stretches from Inverness in the West (usually
considered
part of the Northern Highlands, except by the
late, great whisky writer Michael Jackson) to the watershed
of the river Deveron in the East. The entire region is less
than 100 miles wide and no more than 50 miles 'high'.
Yet,
many people divide it further into eight smaller districts;
Aberlour
Allt-A-Bhainne
Ardmore
Auchroisk
Aultmore
Benrinnes
Cardhu
Cragganmore
Craigellachie
Dailuaine
Glenallachie
Glenfarclas
Glentauchers
Imperial
Inchgower
Knockando
Knockdhu
Macallan
Speyside
Tamdhu
Tormore
A lot of the 'big names' in maltland are produced in the heart of the Speyside region. Aberlour and Glenfarclas
usually bottle classic, sherried malts with lots of character, and so did Macallan
until they introduced their 'Fine
Oak' series in 2004. These malts give the expressive Northern Highlanders a run for their money; the older
versions are almost guaranteed to pass
my '80 points / Recommendable Malt!' benchmark. That being said,
I should point out that the sherried character of these whiskies has little to do with the fact that they were
born in the Speyside region; it's the
result of the type of cask(s) used for maturation.
Benriach
Coleburn
Glen Elgin
Glenlossie
Glen Moray
Linkwood
Longmorn
Mannochmore
Miltonduff
Mosstowie
If you want to experience more of the 'original' charcter of the distillery, bottlings that are matured in (mostly)
bourbon casks should suit you better. Cragganmore offers excellent examples of
the type of whiskies in the
'natural' Speyside style that are usually particularly popular among wine lovers. An Cnoc and Tamdhu are more
modest malts, but great summertime drams
at a great price. And even underachievers like Allt-A-Bhainne,
Cardhu and Tormore seem not quite so mediocre when it's really hot outside and you just need a whisky to
moisturise your palate now and then. The only distillery in this part of Scotland that I would steer clear of is
the 'Speyside' distillery - the maker of the Drumguish, Glentromie and Cu Dubh whiskies.
The most important part of Speyside is the central area where most distilleries are located.
The heartland of Speyside around the river 'Spey' itself is no more than 15 miles wide, but as you can
see from
the list at the right it's home to some of the most famous single malts in the world. This makes the area a
perfect location for those who want to do a 'distillery tour'. When I visited Scotland with
some other maniacs
in the summer of 2003 we did just that. We visited Aberlour and Glenfarclas, but could have stopped at over
a dozen other distilleries along the way as well.
It's hard to say anything 'definitive' about this Eastern part of Speyside, because three out of the four malt
whisky distilleries in the area (Banff, Glendronach & Glenglassaugh) have been closed down for considerable
periods and I haven't sampled many expressions from the remaining active distillery (Glen Deveron) either.
Glendronachs and Glenglassaugh were
re-opened under new owners recently. I've tasted the 'new' versions
of Glendronach in the Spring of 2009 and was suitably impressed - better than the originals, if you ask me.
Directly East of the Speyside heartland lies the Dufftown district. It's home to malts that are generally quite
soft and sweet when they enter their teenage years, gaining more power and character
as they grow older.
Balvenie, Dufftown and Mortlach are my current favorites. Especially during springtime and summer, they make
for a great after dinner dram - or two. During the 1990's I wasn't a very big fan of
Glenfiddich, but now we're
a few years into the 'noughties' the quality of the average 'Fiddich' seems to be rising again. It's interesting
to see this change in focus
from such a large whisky producer, especially because at the same time the focus
of the second largest producer (Macallan) has shifted from craftsmanship to mass production at the same time.
Most distilleries in the Dufftown seem to have succesfully matched a large production capacity with attention
to details. Oh, and a 'fun fact'; The 'Dufftown' distillery is actually located outside the town of Dufftown...
Michael Jackson puts Tomatin in the 'Findhorn' category of Spayside, but I think that the house style is more
in line with other Northern Highlanders like Dalmore and Glen Ord. My experiences with Benromach, Glenburgie
and Dallas Dhu indicate that these Findhorn malts need at least ten years to mature sufficiently. Well, not much
news there I suppose - with the exception of some peat monsters that goes for most single malt whiskies.
Just keep in mind that
'house styles' will drift over time as production methods (stills, casks, etc.) change...
Just south of the central Speyside area, around the rivers 'Livet' & 'Avon'
we find the 'Livet' district.
The Glenlivets, Tomintouls and Tamnavulins I've tried were mostly clean and fresh at a young age, but once
again I'd like to point out that I feel that matters like peating level of the malt and the type of cask have a far
greater impact on the 'house style' than the region where a distillery is located. For example, Braes of Glenlivet
(a.k.a. Braeval) seemed to have used more sherry casks (or at least fresh Oloroso casks) than the other
distilleries in the area - and some single cask bottlings are simply staggering!
Around the town of Elgin, no more than twenty miles north of the centre of Speyside, a number of 'Lossie'
distilleries produce very diverse malts. Longmorn and Linkwood can almost compete
with the classic sherried
Speysiders, and Miltonduff and Glen Moray give it a nice try as well. Based on my experiences so far average
bottlings from Benriach, Coleburn and Glen Elgin are not quite as impressive, but
still very drinkable. But then
again, there's Loch Dhu; the worst malt in the world. Many people seemed to agree with that assessment and
the
brand Loch Dhu (the wisky was actually distilled at the Mannochmore distillery) was discontinued around
the year 2000. Well, I won't shed any tears about that - the stuff was really vile...
According to whisky
writer Michael Jackson, Glenburgie (that also produced the 'Glencraig' malt with a Lomond
still) belongs in the 'Findhorn' area, but it's actually located closer to many 'Lossie' distilleries. Perhaps Michael
Jackson
was focused more on the valleys and glens than on purely geographic criteria like the distance?
The 'Rothes' district lies directly north of the Speyside heartland, so it's no surprise the malts I've tried so far
are very similar to the 'real' Speyside malts. The official bottlings of Glen
Rothes can be excellent at a younger
age while Glen Grant and Caperdonich seem to need quite some time (and maybe a sherry cask) to reach their
prime. At the same time, I've rarely enjoyed a real 'stunner' from the
underachievers
Glen Spey or Speyburn.
Glen Grant offers a fine example of the relatively small role that the region of origin plays in the style of a malt
whisky; the young OB (no age statement) resembles a young Tamdhu more closely than a 30yo G&M bottling.
Based on my experiences so far, the Strathisla area seems to produce decent malts with interesting noses but
unsatisfying palates. Maybe a slightly 'piney' character
I've found is a regional influence? Well, perhaps, but
to tell you the truth differences between these sub-regions of Speyside are often too subtle for me to pick up.
If they exist, that is... And besides, as I've already pointed out, other factors play a much bigger role today...
Distilleries in the Speyside region
The funny thing is that the closest neighbours of the Speyside distillery are Tomatin
and Dalwhinnie. Both manage to produce decent enough whisky. All in all, I wonder
if the
subdivision of Speyside
into smaller area's is useful. I've found considerable
differences between single malts from 'neighboring' distilleries and fairly striking
similarities between malt whiskies that were produced in different area's.
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So, I have my doubts about the significance of the traditional whisky regions in the modern whisky world.
There is, however, one aspect of the enjoyment of single malt Scotch whisky where the
'regional'
approach makes a lot of sense: vacation & travel
in Scotland. The area may have become
more accessible in modern times, but from the 'usual' points of arrival in Scotland for
most visitors (Glasgow & Edinburgh), it can take quite some time to reach certain
distilleries on Islay and in the Highlands. The distilleries that are located in the
Lowlands and Campbeltown regions are more easily accessible. For example,
from Glasgow you can reach Glengoyne and Auchentoshan within an hour...
Most distilleries in the Highlands (and Speyside is 'technically' located
in the Highlands) are too far away from Glasgow or Edinburgh to allow
for a convenient round trip in a single day
. So, most visitors decide to
stay for two days or more - and in those cases whisky lovers visit more
than one distillery, of course. The Speyside area is just perfect in that
respect; dozens of distilleries,
often located just a few miles from each
other. While it's theoretically possible to visit 3 or even 4 distilleries on
a single day, it would be advisable to restrict yourself to one or two.
I have to
admit that Google Earth is an absolutely brilliant tool for the
people that like to plan their own vacations - or that just want to enjoy
some of their vacation in their minds ahead of schedule in a virtual way.
The great thing is that
you can import 'KMZ' files into the program, and
somebody has made an overview with all malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.
If or when you've got Google Earth, just do a search for the KMZ file in your browser and install the file. Alternatively, if you prefer to keep browsing I'd like to point you to the pages for the four other regions; the Highlands, the Lowlands , Islay and Campbeltown - or one of the profiles for over a hundred active and silent distilleries in Scotland. Check out the sitemap for an overview of the rest of this website.
The Springbank distillery also produces the
more heavily peated 'Longrow' malts, as well
as a new spirit under the name 'Hazelburn'.
Once again, these are
second-hand names
of silent distilleries in the Campbeltown area.
