Inchgower 13 Years Old 2008 Cask #HL 19617 (Old Malt Cask)

Built in 1871 near the fishing port of Buckie, Inchgower makes a briny, nutty malt that has long been a backbone of Bell's. Hunter Laing, the Glasgow independent formed in the 2013 family split, selected this single cask, distilled in 2008, and released it at 13 years old in its The Old Malt Cask range. Single cask HL 19617 gave 261 bottles, released for Italy.

Inchgower's four stills carry steeply angled lyne arms that hold back the heavier, oilier vapours, part of why the malt comes out nutty, waxy and faintly saline. This bottling matured in an ex-Bourbon cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 50%, without dilution, the ex-Bourbon barrel adds vanilla from vanillin and a coconut note from oak lactones, over a light cereal sweetness. At 13 years the wood and the salty, nutty spirit are roughly in balance.