TBWC Speyside15 Year Old Batch 1

I have to be honest here; when I first saw the 'Speyside' label, I assumed that this was either a blend of Speyside whiskies, or perhaps a single malt bottling from an anonymous distillery that I'd have to try and deduce from clues on the label or the description.

But no, it turns out that some crazy company has decided to call their Speyside distillery "Speyside", which is just confusing. I'm sure it sounded clever in some 1990's marketing department, but in the cold light of day it's about as helpful as calling your phone company something as easily-searchable as "Three" or "Ee".

(on a side-rant, their website is one of the worst "form over function" offenders I've seen for a while, too)

It better taste amazing, is all I'm saying.

Speyside 15 Year Old Batch 1 is a rich, dark golden dram bottled at 53.4% ABV.

The nose is full of honeyed barley, a slight nuttiness and just a little white chocolate. With water it gets nuttier, and some fresh cut wood comes through too.

In the mouth, an almost creamy sweetness is quickly joined by white chocolate raspberries which all leads nicely into a gentle oak finish. Despite the strength, it's the kind of dram that just soaks softly into your tongue and is gone without you even realising you've swallowed.

Watered, the oak character becomes more apparent and the fruit fades a little but it remains sweet and slightly chocolatey. Oddly, the alcohol comes through more strongly, although I'm not too sure how that's even possible.

Definitely better without getting it wet, I'm forced to forgive Speyside for their foolish distillery name, and give them 4 stars.

Many thanks to Master Of Malt for providing their That Boutique-y Whisky Company Advent Calendar this year.

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This review was originally published 18th December, 2016. It was last updated 1st June, 2023.