The Speyside Distillery Tweet Tasting – Sampling Four Whiskies With Two At Cask Strength!

The Four Speys!

Steve from The Whisky Wire recently held a Spey @TweetTastings which gave us lucky people the opportunity to sample the following drams:-

Production at The Speyside Distillery started in 1990. The distillery took its name from the original distillery of the same name, located in Kingussie, which was operational from around 1895 – 1911.

The distillery is small in comparison with it’s closest neighbours (Dalwhinnie & Tomatin), with a 4.2 ton Semi-Lauter mash tun, 4 stainless steel washbacks and one pair of stills (11,000 wash & 8000 spirit).

Speyside Distillery uses a wide range of casks. The majority of these are American ex-bourbon barrels, but they also use casks sourced from Spain, Portugal and France.

If you want to catch up on what all the tweet tasters had to say you can view their comments by searching for the hashtag #SpeysideDistillery on X (Twitter)

So, what did I think?

Here are my tasting notes … and my favourites on the night!

Tasting Notes – Spey Trutina Melody (46%)

Nose: Sherbet sweetness with green apples and some citrus. Some toffee notes and after a while the citrus increases with the addition of some herbs. Palate: Strong lemon citrus balanced by sugary sweetness and chocolate. Finish: Dry and powerful spicy pepper which is rather scrummy! The finish gets quite bitter at the end.

Tasting Notes – Beinn Dubh (43%)

Beinn Dubh
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
ABV: 43%
AGE: NAS
Casks: Bourbon barrels before being finished in heavily toasted Ruby Port casks

Beinn Dubh, which means Black Mountain, has been produced using water from the Cairngorm Black Mountain, and finished in heavily toasted Ruby Port casks from The Douro Valley.

Nose: What an inviting looking dram this is! On the nose there’s rich dark fruits with red wine and vanilla. It gets more porty as time goes on with some added coffee. Palate: Lashings of Port and dark chocolate! Then there’s Dark fruits including prunes, wood, creamy vanilla and a little liquorice. Finish: The spiciness grows but there’s sweet coffee and chocolate aplenty to keep it in check!

Tasting Notes – Spey Tenne Cask Strength Batch 4 (57.5%)

Initially aged in bourbon casks, this bottling has been finished in the Tawny Port casks from the family run winery, Quinto de Filoco, for 6 months. A limited release of 1500 individually numbered bottles. Bottled at cask strength, non chill filtered and with no added colouring.

Nose: Rich and earthy with some port and red wine. There’s also hints of toffee and sugary plump fruits. Oh, not forgetting some waxiness … Palate: Cracking port and red wine flavours with sugary plums and chocolate – Yummy! Finish: Dark and spicy with dry wood, treacle and blackcurrant.

Tasting Notes – Spey Fumare Cask Strength Batch 4 (58%)

Nose: Woop! Woop! Back to the smokehouse! Smokey peat with sweet treacle and a few hints of antiseptic plus some lemon zest. Palate: Smokey with deep, sweet peat plus sweet, creamy chocolate, some herbal flavours and powerful peppery antiseptic plus a few shades of mint!

I Love these new cask strengths and the Fumare Cask at this ABV is off the scale – a great balance of flavours!

Many thanks to Steve at The Whisky Wire (@TheWhiskyWire / @TweetTastings) for a great evening and Spey (@SpeySingleMalt) for sending the samples and without whom!

Spey Whiskies are available to buy from these Merchants:-

• The Whisky Exchange
• Master of Malt
• Tyndrum Whisky

Related posts:

Sampling Two Whisky Exchange Exclusives: Glenfarclas 15 & 21 Year Olds – Speyside Whisky Perfection! Sampling “Dram o’ clock” (Cask No: 9.222) – An SMWS Whisky That’s A Tasty, Gentle Giant Of A Dram! Sampling Brave New Spirits ‘Cask Noir’ Lineup – Four New Whiskies That Are Already “Classics”! Sampling Five Whiskies From The Glasgow Distillery – Which One Would You Choose? – “ALL Of Them” Is A Great Answer!

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