Speyside Whisky

Speyside Whisky are single malt Scotch whiskies, distilled in Strathspey, the area around the River Spey in Moray and Badenoch and Strathspey, in northeastern Scotland.

The two best-selling Speyside whiskies in the world, The Glenlivet and Glenfiddich, come from Speyside. Strathspey has has the greatest number of distilleries of any of the whisky producing areas of Scotland.^[1] Dufftown alone has six working distilleries with an annual capacity of 40.4m litres of spirit.^[2]

The Speyside distilleries are mainly operated by leading international drinks groups including Diageo, LVMH and Pernod Ricard, by family-owned companies including J. & G. Grant and William Grant & Sons and by The Edrington Group (majority owned by a charitable trust).

Scotland’s Malt Whisky Trail is a tourism initiative featuring eight Speyside distilleries and the Speyside Cooperage.^[3] Speyside also hosts an annual whisky festival known as “Spirit of Speyside”.^[4]

Speyside whisky can generally be classified as light and grassy (e.g. Glenlivet) or rich and sweet (e.g. Macallan).^{[citation needed]}