Inchgower 18 Years Old 1995 Old & Rare A Platinum Selection (Hunter Laing)

On the Cromarty side of the Moray Firth, Inchgower distils a coastal, savoury malt that has fed Bell's and other Diageo blends for decades. Hunter Laing, the Glasgow independent formed in the 2013 family split, bottled this, distilled in 1995, from the distillery's United Distillers and early Diageo era, and released it at 18 years old in its Old & Rare - A Platinum Selection range. The outturn was 240 bottles, released for the Netherlands.

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 Oloroso sherry cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 58.2%, without dilution, the Oloroso sherry cask layers raisin and fig from its melanoidins over a drying, nutty oak grip. At 18 years the cask has had time to round off the spirit's coastal edge and pull the flavours together.