Inchgower Rare Malts Selection 22 Years Old 1974

Inchgower sits on the Moray Firth coast outside Buckie, a Speyside distillery in name whose malt is salty and savoury in a way the region's usually are not. This is a Rare Malts Selection bottling, Diageo's cask strength range of limited official single malts, distilled in 1974, from Inchgower's years under Arthur Bell & Sons, released at 22 years old. 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 its natural cask strength of 55.7%, without dilution, the ex-Bourbon wood gives vanillin for vanilla and oak lactones for coconut, with maltol lending toffee. At 22 years the long maturation has deepened the spirit, the oak adding weight to its savoury core.