Inchgower 16 Years Old 2009 Cask #801568 (Cask Le Sens)

Inchgower is the coastal outlier of Speyside, owned by Diageo and built mostly into the Bell's blend, with single malt a rare sight. Cask Le Sens selected this single cask, distilled in 2009, and released it at 16 years old. It came from single cask 801568.

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 56.6%, without dilution, the Oloroso wood gives dried fruit, melanoidins reading as fig and raisin with tannins adding a walnut dryness. At 16 years the cask has had time to round off the spirit's coastal edge and pull the flavours together.