Finglassie Lowland Smoke (The Vintage Malt Whisky Co Ltd.)

Finglassie is the name InchDairnie uses for the peated single malt it releases through independent bottlers, the smoky counterpart to its unpeated Strathenry trade malt. The Vintage Malt Whisky Co Ltd. bottled this release with no age statement, for its The Cooper's Choice range. This single cask, number 409, yielded 270 bottles, released for Belgium.

InchDairnie was built in 2015 by Ian Palmer to chase flavour through unusual equipment, milling its cereals on a hammer mill and mashing on a Meura filter rather than a traditional tun. This is the distillery's peated spirit, so smoke sits over the young Fife malt. Matured in a Madeira cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 53%, without dilution, the Madeira wood adds candied citrus and a faint tang of burnt sugar from its heated maturation. Smoke comes through from guaiacol and its related phenols, edged with a light iodine note. Recorded bottle notes run to cocoa, honey, a nutty note, seasoned oak, smoke and vanilla. Youthful underneath, the smoke lengthens the finish and keeps it dry.