Why Speyside
There are five whisky regions in Scotland: Highland, Lowland, Speyside, Islay and Campbeltown.
Speyside is the smallest by area, but arguably the biggest by everything else. Tucked into the north east of the country, following the River Spey down through Moray to the sea, it holds more distilleries than every other Scotch region put together. Some of the most recognised names in whisky are made within a short drive of each other here, and very close to our inspirational home at the Craigellachie Hotel, right on the banks of the Spey.
If you have ever drunk Scotch, there is a good chance it came from Speyside. A quiet valley in a unique part of Scotland.
Why here
Water, mostly. The Spey and the burns that feed it run cold, clean and soft off the Cairngorms, which is exactly what you want for whisky. Then barley, growing well in the fields around Moray. Then, less romantically, geography: a landscape with enough hidden glens to keep an illicit still out of sight, back when that mattered rather a lot. More on that later.
Distilleries were built here because everything they needed was already to hand. As more arrived, the knowledge stacked up alongside them, and what started as a practical choice turned into genuine expertise. Generations of people in one valley, all getting very good at the same thing.
Why it matters to us
Speyside is our home.
The idea for Spey Soda came from one of our founders' homes at the Craigellachie Hotel, right on the banks of the Spey. The more we watched global visitors ordering whisky highballs at the Quaich Bar in the hotel, the more frustrated we became with the mixers they were being served with. That is where our belief that whisky deserves better was distilled in us.
Being born in Speyside means we inherently get whisky. It also means the people who helped us craft our sodas either make whisky themselves or are surrounded by whisky making every day. It means the water we started with is the water this place is known for. And it means our earliest experiments involved literally carrying jugs of water up from the Spey and playing with different botanicals, to find interesting combinations that mingled well with whisky in the glass.
Speyside has spent two centuries perfecting what goes into the cask.
We thought it was time somebody from the Speyside region looked after the rest of the glass.
Discover and share your perfect whisky and Spey Soda pairings @speysoda.
Explore whisky your way. Life's short. Mix well.
