Whisky Guide > Distillery Profiles > Glen Spey Distillery

Glen Spey Distillery, Rothes

For many of the towns and villages in Speyside, distilling and whisky production is interwoven into its historical, cultural and social fabric. Sitting nestled in the heart of Speyside, Rothes is no different with no less that five whisky distilleries set between the town limits: Speyburn (featured in newsletter 30?), Glenrothes (available under the MacPhail’s Collection range), Glen Grant (vintages available from 1948), Caperdonich (available under the Connoisseurs Choice range) and the subject of this feature: Glen Spey. For the record, Rothes is also the home of Forsyths the Coppersmiths who are responsible for creating the wonderfully unique shapes of most of the Stills in the Scotch Whisky Industry.

Established in 1878, Glen Spey is built just underneath the hill on which stands the ruins of the Castle of Rothes, the ancient seat of the noble family of Leslies, Earls of Rothes. History indicates that the ‘Hammer of the Scots’, Edward I, visited and stayed overnight in the castle in the year 1296.

Glen Spey started life as a mill, before corn merchant, James Stuart, who had distilling interests at Macallan distillery, built a distilling function onto his oatmeal mill called Mills of Rothes in the 1870s. The site was expanded to become the Glen Spey distillery before being sold to the W&A Gilbey Ltd of London in 1887. In a bold step for a non-Scottish company, Victorian entrepreneurship clearly identified the extent to which whisky was fast becoming an important international product.

W&A Gilbey Ltd is arguably most famous for Gilbey’s Gin. Brothers Walter and Alfred Gilbey founded the company in 1857, beginning by importing wines from South Africa. They developed the business to establish a gin distillery, located in Camden Town, before expanding into the whisky market. Another of Speyside’s distilleries, Knochando was purchased by the company in 1904.

Our guide for the day is Raymond ??(second name), a proud local ‘loon’ with more than 25 years experience in the whisky industry. As we walk around the site from building to building it is clear to see that the distillery retains many of the typical Victorian period features. Our tour begins in the mill room with 8 towering 30 tonne malt bins. The grist produced by a four roller Buhler Miag mill (originally used to mill rice), is fed into one of two 4.4 tonne grist bins, ready for mashing in. Raymond explains that Buhler Miag mill has an auto sampler that pulls a ten second sample approximately every ten minutes. Spring water from the near by Doonie spring is mixed with the grist in the stainless steel semi-lauter mash tun before being passed into one of the eight stainless steel wash backs.

When inspecting the mash tun, Raymond informs us that about 15 years ago, Glen Spey was re-furbished to become fully automated. He tells us that he had returned to the new system after a period of being off-shore. He indicates that he still had his ‘sea legs’ and that in his state of imbalance, he had to be very careful to ensure the correct button or lever was pushed!

After adding Mauri / Kerry yeast the wash is left to ferment for approximately 60 hours. This relatively short fermentation contributes to the spicy, nutty notes found in the final spirit. The Still Room contains four stills, although it originally contained two before a rebuilding period in the 1970s saw a further two added. The stills are a classic lantern shape, tall and elegant to encourage reflux. Purifiers, which only let the most volatile and purest compounds reach the condensers, ensure that other compounds are returned to the pot where they are redistilled. The resulting spirit is light, grassy and dry – a classic Justerini & Brooks style.

Our final stop on the tour is the filling store where we come across an old H&A Gilbey sign. The sign proclaims ‘By Appointment to HM King George VI’ – testament to the Gilbey family heritage. Raymond informs us that the most of the distilled ‘new make’ spirit is tankered away to a central filling store further south, although a few small cask fillings are conducted on site.

We leave Glen Spey, through wrought iron gates, shouldered by sturdy stone pillars and turn steeply right, ascending a tight country road to view the remains of Rothes Castle. Little would the original inhabitants of this Speyside stronghold imagine that Victorian gentlemen from London would one day invest in an enterprise only a few feet beneath their walls.