Glen Spey 12 Berry’s Brothers & Rudd

Thanks to the man/woman/goat/alien cjotto9 for the sample. I’m expecting you to be the most prolific reviewer soon.

You may be asking yourself… wait, shit, I’ve quoted that song before. Fuck.

You wake up. You stare into the reddit and/or WordPress Abyss. Sweat drips down your face.

What… exactly… is Glen Spey? And why is TOModera reviewing it?

Sounds like a joke name just for whisky nerds. Glen, the number one start to any Scotch name, and part of Speyside.

Okay, that’s not that great of a joke at all. Maybe like it was made up for a show. I don’t really know.

In reality, this actually exists. It’s quite obscure. It’s yet another of the Diageo run hidden distilleries. There have been two official O.B., however the 8 is just a rumour and the 12 was part of Flora and Fauna.

There’s some other cool aspects of Glen Spey, but you can Google those. There are rumblings that people don’t really like them because they are a distillery used for blends and we only see them with special releases that are more expensive than they are tasty.

But I didn’t think about all that while trying Glen Spey 12 Berry Brothers & Rudd. All I could think about was “Hmmm, whisky”, because I had to take a few days off to alleviate some fat liver syndrome.

So now that my liver is working again, let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Cask 265

Distilled in: 2000

Bottled in: 2013

Region: Speyside

Abv: 46%

Colour: 5Y 9/3

Nose: Violets, lemon, cream, chilis, vinegar, sand, pear, toffee, Whetabix

Yay more floral! Wait, that doesn’t make sense unless you read my last review.

Nice mixture of flavours on this one. It’s spicy, has some sour notes, and reminds me of a white wine in the end. Some cereal in it as well. Decent complexity. Nice dry nose.

Taste: Buttery, mango, pineapple, ginger, pepper, floral

Big fruit and butter notes on this one. Again, not super complex, however I’m liking the mix. Kinda hot, little bit of balance with the sweet fruits, and just a tiny bit of spice.

And in the end, don’t we typically want just a tiny bit of spice? Any more and we’re getting stabbed in bed for mentioning the wrong man’s name and the orgy is just ruined.

Finish: Pear, sour apple, Vitamin C tablet, lemongrass, earth

And then the world ends in sadness.

Maybe that’s a little overdoing it.

This whisky, though, ends poorly. Lots of earth and bitter, bitter notes.

Conclusion: I think the finish section sums this one up. The nose is interesting, the taste is well balanced and nice to sip on, and the finish tastes like that orange slice you dropped on the ground while playing rugby.

It could be a really nice dram, one worth going out and getting. However the finish is that poor. Oh well, maybe next IB or special release.

74/100

Scotch review #425, Speyside review #129, Whisky Network review #665