Invergordon 11 Years Old SiSa Octave Cask (Simple-Sample)

Invergordon is the most northerly grain distillery in Scotland, set on the Cromarty Firth in Easter Ross, with almost all of its output going into Whyte & Mackay's blends. This release was bottled by Simple-Sample at 11 years old, for its Octave Cask range. The outturn was 146 bottles, released for Germany.

Invergordon is a grain distillery rather than a malt one, distilling a mash of maize, wheat and barley through tall continuous column stills to a light, high strength spirit. Matured in ex-Bourbon casks with a finish in an Oloroso sherry cask.

Bottled at its natural cask strength of 55%, without dilution, the ex-Bourbon wood gives vanillin for vanilla and oak lactones for coconut, with maltol for butterscotch, and the Oloroso wood adds dried fruit, with melanoidins reading as fig and raisin and tannins giving a walnut dryness. Recorded bottle notes run to cocoa, leather, a nutty note, an oily texture, a toasted note and tobacco. Underneath the wood the grain stays soft and sweet, into a clean, mellow finish.