Watt Whisky Glen Spey 13yo (53.6%): What is needed to make a blogger sit down and get back to work after months of doing absolutely nothing..? I've been shamelessly lazy for quite a while, long enough to make my countless excuses sound silly, long enough to make the samples pile up high in my room and long enough to feel guilty every single day I walk by my desk. But guilt wasn't remotely enough for the much needed push for a complete restart. Maybe I just needed something to be excited about, maybe a package delivered to my door step literally from the other side of the world all the way from Campbeltown. Well, that happened last week: The brand new releases from
Watt Whisky... And the first one: A Glen Spey..! Glen What..? A long forgotten distillery from Diageo's vast portfolio you never see on the shelves in a bottle as a single malt. Definitely not as an official bottling but also quite rare even from independent bottlers. Somehow this Glen Spey hogshead filled in 2008 caught
Watt Whisky's attention and found its way to Campbeltown to be transferred to an ex-sherry cask for three months only to add some extra oomph. It finally got bottled at cask strength in 2021 when it was 13 years old yielding 280 bottles total. A couple days ago Mark actually posted a wonderful
blog post about this whisky comparing it to and pairing it with one of my all time favorite beers
Duchesse de Bourgogne which I wrote about almost nine years ago on this blog and made me grab it first and pour right away.
Color: Rich yellow gold, sweet white wine color with an initial ring of tiny teardrops slowly starting to turn into thin but slow moving legs.
Nose: Ha, yes... Here are the vinegar notes Mark was talking about: High quality (expensive) white wine vinegar, pomace and grape molasses. Aged Marc (not Mark..!), melted butter and sauteed shallots. Tart and sweet: Gueuze Lambic... The smell you get the very first few seconds when you pop open a very old white wine: oxidized white wine and gooseberries. I am quite aware that this nose would make a lot of people walk away but I am loving and enjoying every minute of this now. After adding a few drops water: More butter and mushrooms. Young Calvados or maybe Pommeau..?
Palate: This is nice... Very vegetal and distillate driven: Tahini, pastry cream and lemon tart. Asparagus, unripe table grapes and green almonds. Dry clay and raspberries. With water: Tart apples, nutmeg and oak. Dry ginger and lemongrass.
Finish: Long with ground ginger, ground coriander and white pepper.
Overall: This actually reminded me some Cadenhead's releases from the last decade around same age. Dailuaine, Tomatin, Benrinnes... This is a whisky I would order a bottle for myself right away after testing the sample if it was available in US but would never buy as a present to anyone I know. Too risky... Right up my alley but it's miles away from being a crowd pleaser. Kudos to Watt Whisky for bottling this gem..!
Price: £66
89/100
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