When I picked up this sample from the box, for a moment my brain froze and I was very confused. is it a way to hide the distillery name and wrap it in a shroud of mystery? But then my brain resumed working – Speyside is indeed a whisky region (and geographic area) in Scotland, but there is a real distillery called Speyside in the Speyside region.

I said to myself, wow, what a cool thing (wonder why there’s no Islay distillery on Islay…). This distillery is not generating lots of buzz in the whisky circles or with whisky fans – I admit I knew almost nothing on it so I went to the internet and found out it’s a relatively new distillery, producing whisky only since 1990 and indeed have a very small capacity (only 500,000 liters a year).

So today, another notch for me – my first Speyside distillery whisky, Douglas Laing Old Particular Speyside 17 years old – is it a classic speyside (region) whisky or not? lets get to the tasting notes 🙂

Douglas Laing Old Particular Speyside 17 (48.4%, buy for £63.62 here)

Nose: Initial whiff of sherry-like note that was gone and replaced by heavy and dusty sweet floral notes including violets. after a minute or two, some Doritos chips (!) note as well and weak note of old dried wood chips. It’s a mellow and rounded nose.

Palate: Starts with mild oak, then honey sweetness violets and floral notes with surprising and newly discovered spiciness.

Finish: Medium length finish, lingering sweetness and traces of floral notes with old wood chips.

Conclusion: I didn’t many expectations from this one but it surprised me in a good way – well rounded, delicate but with flavors oomph and some surprising spiciness on palate. A good dram and only £64. Snag one, it won’t disappoint you.

(Official sample from the Douglas Laing)