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KWM 2023 Whisky Calendar Blog Day 17 - Speyburn 15 Year Old

Posted on December 17, 2023

by Evan

Up until 2023, Speyburn Distillery was in a bit of a tough spot when it came to being noticed. Speyburn is owned by Inverhouse Distillers/International Beverage Holdings. Inverhouse also owns are the more famed Old Pulteney and well-respected Knockdhu (bottled as AnCnoc), Balblair, and Balmenach. Speyburn is capable of producing more spirit annually than any two of these distilleries combined, each of the other brands in the Inverhouse single malt portfolio has more cache with whisky geeks, leaving Speyburn overshadowed when it comes to name recognition. Recently, Inverhouse and Speyburn have undertaken plans to engage more with their consumers than in the past.

The Speyburn core range of Single Malt is worth giving a try when you can. The range begins with the no-age statement Braden Orach. We will be tasting the 10 Year today, but there is also the Speyburn 15-year-old we will be tasting today and an 18-year-old expression. Both the 15 and an 18-Year-Old bottlings lean more into sherry cask influence in comparison. Beyond those, there is a 25-year-old as well.

Enough about the bottles for the moment. Let's talk about the distillery itself. Speyburn Distillery dates back to 1897 when it was founded by a family that also happened to own Tobermory Distillery at the time. Speyburn was a modern distillery at the time of its inception and was designed by famous architect Charles Doig.

Another thing that made it modern was a new version of malting the barley. Instead of using the tried-and-true floor maltings, Speyburn Distillery was the first to employ a newfangled technology for this process called drum malting. Drum malting uses a large cylinder (or drum) to rotate the barley during the malting process, which allowed the temperature and tilling/separation of the germinating barley to be machine-controlled. The result was the need for far less space to be taken up by the malt floor, fewer employees needed to monitor and turn the barley, and greater speed and consistency of the entire process.

These drums were used at Speyburn for 70 years before their retirement. The equipment is still intact and can be viewed by the public now that Speyburn Distillery has recently started offering tours. The distillery started to throw open its doors to the public in August of 2023. This should make the distillery a little less hidden than it has been in the past.

The Speyburn 15-Year-Old that we will be tasting today is aged in a combination of American and Spanish oak casks. It is bottled at 46%.

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Dried fruits, orange peel, Grand Marnier, red rose tea, shortbread cookies, and fennel fronds.

Palate: Juicy with plenty of spice. Ginger candy, more orange peel, toasted raisin bread, dried cherries, milk chocolate, peaches and cream, and a touch of caraway seed and salt.

Finish: Slightly drying, but still juicy at the same time. More chocolate and cherry notes on the finish.

Comment: The fruit and chocolate notes on this dram are delicious. Great balance at 46%.

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Facebook & Instagram: @sagelikefool

You can find all blog posts for Kensington Wine Market’s 2023 Whisky Calendar Here

This entry was posted in Whisky, Whisky Calendars, Distillery, KWM Whisky Calendar 2023

 

 

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