Glen Spey 21yr Single Malt

Glen Spey is a little-known Diageo-owned workhorse distillery in Rothes Speyside (the town is also home to Glen Grant Caperdonich Glenrothes and Speyburn). The distillery was founded in 1878 by James Stuart who sold it shortly after buying Macallan eight years later. The buyers W&A Gilbey (more famous for their gin) were the first English company to own a Scottish distillery. 50.4% ABV Gilbey rebuilt Glen Spey after a fire in 1920 and shepherded the distillery through the Prohibition era and WWII before merging with United Wine Traders to form International Distillers and Vintners (IDV) a forerunner to (and one of the key whisky-distilling elements of) what would become today’s globe-straddling drinks behemoth Diageo plc. Glen Spey had its stills doubled to four in 1970 two years before IDV was bought by Watney Mann (who were later bought by Grand Metroplitan who merged with Guinness to form Diageo in 1997). Almost all of Glen Spey’s 1.3million litres/year output goes