Inchgower 30 Years Old 1982 Cask #DL 8258 (Douglas Laing)

Few Speyside distilleries taste of the sea, but Inchgower, near the Buckie fishing harbour, carries a briny, waxy character into almost everything it makes. Douglas Laing, a Glasgow bottling house, selected this single cask, distilled in 1982, from Inchgower's years under Arthur Bell & Sons, and released it at 30 years old in its The Old Malt Cask range. Single cask DL 8258 gave 260 bottles, released for Germany.

A quick mashing regime and a warmer second water give Inchgower the savoury, saline character that earns it the Manzanilla of Speyside nickname. This bottling matured in an ex-Bourbon cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 50%, without dilution, the refill ex-Bourbon oak works gently, vanillin reading as vanilla and furfural as a faint toasted almond. After 30 years in wood this is an old Inchgower, the cask now a dominant voice over the surviving saline character.