This is probably the most famous whisky producing region in the world, many distilleries in the area try to associate themselves with Speyside simply to help market their malts when strictly speaking they are just a highland malt.
Speyside is recognised to stretch from the Findhorn to the Deveron and as far south as Tomintoul. The malts from this region are not peaty, they are smoky and often spicey, the majority of them are situated inland so they do not benefit from sea air during the maturation process. They do, however, all use water from the Grampian mountains which helps provide the basic characteristic. Many distilleries in this competitive area produce different bottlings and ageings of their produce, giving the taster a dazzling array of malts to choose from.