Inchgower 13 Years Old 2009 Cask #802327 (BB&R)

Inchgower is the coastal outlier of Speyside, owned by Diageo and built mostly into the Bell's blend, with single malt a rare sight. Berry Bros & Rudd, the London wine and spirits merchant, selected this single cask, distilled in 2009, and released it at 13 years old. Single cask 802327 gave 223 bottles, released for Europe.

The distillery's spirit is built for body rather than elegance, nutty and waxy with a coastal salt note unusual for Speyside. This bottling matured in an ex-Bourbon cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 61.9%, without dilution, the ex-Bourbon wood gives vanillin for vanilla and oak lactones for coconut, with maltol lending toffee. At 13 years the wood and the salty, nutty spirit are roughly in balance. The recorded notes run to citrus, stewed fruit, dried fruit, fresh orchard fruit, honey and seasoned oak.