The variety in character and style among Speyside malts is huge.
There are no simple 'giveaways' like the peat and smoke in Islay malts.
Speyside malts usually do have a lot of nose - but this isn't always a good thing. There's at least as much variety in the quality as there is in the 'personality' of Speysiders. All in all - I wonder if the subdivision of Speyside into even
smaller area's is very useful. I found huge differences between malts from the same area - and striking similarities between malts from different area's.
Over 50% of all distilleries in Scotland are located in the 'Speyside' region.
The Speyside region itself reaches from Inverness in the West to the
watershed of the river Deveron in the East, and is less than 100 miles
wide. Nevertheless, it's divided further into nine smaller districts.
Single malts from the Speyside region |
The names of all the active distilleries in the area are shown at the right. |
A lot of the 'big names' in maltland are from the heart of the Speyside region. Macallan, Cragganmore, Aberlour, Singleton and Glenfarclas are classic, sherried single malts with a lot of character. These malts give the expressive Northern Highlanders a run for their money; older versions are almost guaranteed to pass my '80 points - Great Malt!' benchmark.
East of the Speyside heartland lies Dufftown.
It's home to malts that are generally quite soft and sweet around 10 yrs., gaining more power and character as
they grow older. Balvenie and Dufftown are my current favorites. Especially in the springtime, they make for a great after dinner dram - or two.
Around the town of Elgin, less 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 Speysides, and Miltonduff and Glen Moray give it a nice try. Benriach and Glen Elgin are not as impressive, but quite drinkable. But then again, there's Coleburn. I only tasted one bottle of the stuff, but what a strange one that was.... And let's not forget Loch Dhu - the worst single malt in the world.
It's hard to say anything 'definitive' about this Eastern part of Speyside, because the 3 malts that are produced here are very different. The Glendronachs were big and sherried while Glen Deveron and Banff appeared much lighter in style.
My experiences with Benromach, Glenburgie and Tomatin indicate that Findhorn malts need at least 10 years to mature sufficiently. Well - not much news there... Will be able to say more in the future.
Insufficient data. Glen Albyn and Millburn were closed in 1980's, so Glen Mhor is all that's left.
Just south of the central Speyside area, around the rivers 'Livet' and 'Avon'. The Glenlivets and Tamnavulins I've tried were clean and fresh at a young age and more powerful and sherried after 18 yrs.
Directly north of the Speyside heartland, so it's no surprise the malts I've tried so far are similar to the 'real' Speyside malts. Glen Rothes 1985 came very close to big names like Glenfarclas and Singleton.
Based on my experiences so far, the Strathisla area seems to produce decent malts with interesting noses but unsatisfying palates.
An Cnoc and Tamdhu are more modest malts, but they are great summertime drams at a great price. And even underachievers like Cardhu and Dalwhinnie seem not quite so mediocre when it's really hot outside.
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 to the right it's the home of some of the most famous malts.
Speyside Districts: |