Inchgower 25 Years Old 1989 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 1989, from the distillery's United Distillers and early Diageo era, and released it at 25 years old in its Old & Rare - A Platinum Selection range. The outturn was 266 bottles, released for Germany.

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 56.7%, without dilution, the refill ex-Bourbon oak works gently, vanillin reading as vanilla and furfural as a faint toasted almond. At 25 years the long maturation has deepened the spirit, the oak adding weight to its savoury core.