Inchgower 15 Years Old 1993 (Connoisseurs Choice)

Inchgower is the coastal outlier of Speyside, owned by Diageo and built mostly into the Bell's blend, with single malt a rare sight. Gordon & MacPhail, the Elgin merchant and bottler, bottled this, distilled in 1993, from the distillery's United Distillers and early Diageo era, and released it at 15 years old in its Connoisseurs Choice range. It was 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 43%, the refill ex-Bourbon oak works gently, vanillin reading as vanilla and furfural as a faint toasted almond. At 15 years the wood and the salty, nutty spirit are roughly in balance.