Glen Spey

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Founded

1878

Region

Speyside

Status

Operational

Company

Diageo

Production type

Single malt

Production capacity

1,500,000 litre per year

Former name

Mill of Rothes

Glen Spey is a malt distillery and one of several in the Scotch whisky portfolio of Diageo. It was originally founded in 1878 as Mill of Rothes before being renamed in 1887 by new owners, W&A Gilbey. Historically a gin producer, the distillery was its first acquisition in Scotland and its malt then became a key feature in the Gilbey's Spey Royal blend.

Today Glen Spey is better associated with J&B however, and was providing fillings for the famous label even before W&A Gilbey merged with Justerini & Brooks to form International Distillers & Vintners in 1962. Provision for J&B continues to be its primary purpose as part of Diageo.

Hugely important to its owners for their blends, Glen Spey single malt is rarely seen bottled officially. The first instance of this was in the 1980s when IDV launched a Glen Spey brand, offering a sole 8-year-old expression through the 1990s when it disappeared after their merger with United Distillers in 1997. Glen Spey single malt was not seen for four years until it became one of four new recruits to Diageo's uniformly labelled Flora & Fauna series, which it remains part of today.

The distillery was not furnished with its own unique single malt branding again until 2010 when it was included in the annual Diageo Special Releases offering for that year, however has not been seen since. Glen Spey single malts are available through Diageo's private casks programme, Casks of Distinction, but as with the Flora & Fauna bottling the name appears using the generic series-specific typeface.

Current owner

1997-present

1972-1997

1972

International Distillers & Vintners

1962-1972

W&A Gilbey

1887-1962