Glen Spey Distillery, Rothes: A Gilbey’s Malt

Overview

Glen Spey is one of the four working distilleries in the small Speyside town of Rothes, alongside Glen Grant, Glenrothes and Speyburn. It makes a light, grassy, nutty spirit, and almost all of it goes into the J&B blend. Single malt bottlings are rare, so most people taste Glen Spey without knowing it.

It is not open to visitors. It is still worth knowing about if you are in Rothes, because its story explains how London money came into Speyside whisky.

Where it is

Rothes sits on the A941 between Elgin and Craigellachie, in the middle of the Speyside distilling country. Glen Spey stands on the edge of the town, below the ruined mound of Rothes Castle, the old seat of the Leslie earls of Rothes. Elgin is about 10 miles north and Dufftown about 8 miles south-east. Parking in Rothes is easy, and the Glen Grant visitor centre and garden is a few minutes’ walk away.

The full history

1878: a meal mill grows stills

Glen Spey was built in 1878 by James Stuart & Co. Stuart was a corn merchant, and the site started as an oatmeal mill known as the Mill of Rothes. Distilling equipment was added to the working mill. This was the late-Victorian whisky boom, when the blenders could not get enough Speyside malt and Rothes, with its burns and its railway, was filling up with distilleries.

1887: Gilbey arrives from London

In 1887 the distillery was sold to W&A Gilbey, the London wine and gin merchants. Gilbey was one of the first English drinks firms to own a Scotch malt distillery, and it went on to buy Strathmill in Keith and Knockando as well. Those three malts became the backbone of the firm’s blends.

IDV, J&B and the four stills

In 1962 Gilbey merged with United Wine Traders to form International Distillers & Vintners (IDV), which owned the J&B brand. Glen Spey’s job from then on was to feed J&B, one of the best-selling blends in the world. In 1970 the distillery was expanded from two stills to four. IDV also used Glen Spey for a small experiment: the test spirit that led to the building of Auchroisk in the 1970s was distilled here, using water carried from Dorie’s Well.

Diageo

In 1997–98 IDV’s parent merged with Guinness, and its whisky arm joined United Distillers as United Distillers & Vintners, now Diageo. Glen Spey still works for J&B today. Diageo has released only a handful of official single malts, most notably a 12-year-old in its Flora & Fauna range, and independent bottlers occasionally offer casks.

How it’s made

Glen Spey has two wash stills of about 12,000 litres and two spirit stills of about 7,500 litres, with a capacity of around 1.4 million litres of alcohol a year. The water comes from the Doonie Burn, a small burn in the hills above Rothes. The stills are fitted with purifiers: small cooled pipes on the lyne arms that catch the heavier vapours and send them back into the still. That extra reflux is why the spirit comes off light and clean, which is exactly what a blender making a pale, gentle whisky like J&B wants.

Clans & the land

Glen Spey had no founding clan. It was a merchant’s mill turned distillery. The land around Rothes, though, belonged for centuries to the Leslies, Earls of Rothes, whose castle mound still overlooks the town. Later the estate passed to the Grants of Grant, the Earls of Seafield, and much of Strathspey remains Clan Grant country. Rothes itself was laid out as a planned village in 1766.

Visiting

Glen Spey is not open to the public and has no shop or visitor centre. If you are in Rothes, go to Glen Grant instead: it has a visitor centre, tours and a fine Victorian garden running up the glen behind the stills. Speyburn, at the north end of town, sits in one of the prettiest settings in Speyside.

Nearby distilleries

• Glen Grant: in Rothes, a few minutes’ walk. Open to visitors, with its famous garden.
• Glenrothes: also in Rothes, next to the Burn of Rothes.
• Speyburn: at the north edge of town.
• Auchroisk: near Mulben, the J&B distillery whose first test spirit was made at Glen Spey.
• The Macallan and Aberlour: a short drive south towards Craigellachie.

Our Speyside Whisky Trail bases part of its route on Rothes. The whisky hub covers every region in Scotland.

Sources

• Glen Spey distillery — Wikipedia.
• Diageo / Malts.com.