Inchgower 14 Years Old 2007 Cask #800650 (Adelphi)

Classed by Diageo among its nutty and spicy malts, Inchgower is the Manzanilla of Speyside, its coastal saltiness setting it apart from its floral neighbours. Adelphi, a Highland independent, selected this single cask, distilled in 2007, and released it at 14 years old in its Selection range. Single cask 800650 gave 275 bottles, released for the Netherlands.

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 Oloroso sherry cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 58.5%, without dilution, the Oloroso wood gives dried fruit, melanoidins reading as fig and raisin with tannins adding a walnut dryness. At 14 years the wood and the salty, nutty spirit are roughly in balance. The recorded notes run to cocoa, citrus, dried fruit, honey, leather and a nutty note.