S$
The first-ever Inchgower Special Release in this series is a complex, surprising whisky from a distillery with a heart-warming back story, which starts sweetly then becomes crisply aromatic and drying with a beautiful bitter-sweet drying finish.
Inchgower was founded in 1871 by Alexander Wilson, known as “Uncle Sandy”. Having taken Tochieneal, a distillery founded in 1824 by his family, to fame, he had been forced to close it by the twin hardships of a doubling of the rent and a failing water supply. Made near the sea, Inchgower is rarely seen as a Single Malt and enjoys a crisp, aromatic style for which it is nicknamed “the Manzanilla of Speyside”, after the similarly distinctive Sherry.
Tasting Notes
Appearance
Full, yellow gold. Fine beading.
Nose
Dry and savoury, with ripe fruits on a herbal and slightly spicy base; fruit boxes packed with red apples, a dusty malt barn, hessian sacks and walnuts, nut brittle toffee. Subtly aromatic, with mature oaky vanilla, dark chocolate, dry sawdust and polish. Later, sweet hints of melon.
Body
Light to medium.
Palate
First, cool and tangy, smooth and with a sweeter taste than expected; a sugary fruit compote. Soon drying, powerful and mint-clean, with a charred bitterness; flinty and toasty, growing increasingly appetising, with dark chocolate and grape skins, then savoury.
Finish
Long, with considerable spice; herbal, with drying cedar and clove, and black tea notes. An appealing charred and savoury note.
