Inchgower 15 Year Old 2007 SMWS Single Cask 18.54 A Thinking Dram Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2022) 70cl
Inchgower 15 Year Old 2007 SMWS Single Cask 18.54 A Thinking Dram Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2022) 70cl
A 15 year old single casked Inchgower! Finished in a 1st Fill Oloroso Hogshead!
1 of 251 bottles made
The tasting blurb
For us it was not love at first sight, or should we say sniff? – but it's worth getting to know better. Briny, smoky aromas arrived next to rubber on hot asphalt, as well as a strong Assam tea – this was spicy and malty. On the palate some found it slightly dirty, dry and yeasty, but with impressions of dark chocolate shavings, a coffee cake and a chilli spice. With water one Panellist cleaned the vinyl seat of a Trabant (a classic East German car) before we drove around the island of Madeira. We then visited the farmers' market in Funchal and had a glass of dry sercial madeira wine. Following 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.
What is Inchgower anyway?
Located just outside the fishing port of Buckie, Inchgower is a defiantly coastal style of single malt. No other new make reaches the same level of intense spiciness which is perceived on the tongue as salinity.
The spicy character is driven initially by a hotter than usual second water during the quick mashing regime which cuts back any overt nuttiness. Fermentation is short and the steeply angled lyne arms on the stills help to capture weightier elements. An underlying waxiness flashes a signal to another coastal plant, Clynelish.
Built in 1871 by Alexander Wilson, this is one of the few distilleries to have been owned by the local town council which stepped in to save the plant in 1936 when the Wilson family went bankrupt. Two years later, Arthur Bell bought it for the princely sum of £3,000. With the absorption of Bell’s into Guinness and the subsequent purchase by that firm of DCL, Inchgower became part of what is now Diageo.
It has always been a significant player in blends, in this case Bell’s, whose own distilleries all shared variations on the ‘nutty-spicy' theme. It also plays a role within the Walker range.
One of Diageo’s ‘Flora & Fauna’ range, it is occasionally found (with varying degrees of salinity) from independent bottlers.
59.4% ABV
70cl
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