A decade jump in age for my next review, the lovely 31yo Inchgower (distilled in 1974) from Independent Bottler Royal Mile Whiskies. We had bottle #104 of 179 bottles produced from cask number 10416. Thanks to @thedramdog for bringing this bottle to our tasting.
Whisky: Inchgower 31yo 1974, 47.2% ABV (Royal Mile Whiskies, Cask #10416, 179 Bottles)
Region: Speyside, Scotland
Style: Single Malt
Age: 31 years
The Inchgower distillery was founded as ‘The Great Distillery of Inchgower’ in 1871 (to replace Tochineal Distillery) by Alexander Wilson and Co. Buckie Council purchased the concern in 1936 and ownership was transferred to Arthur Bell & Sons Ltd in 1938 and indeed to this very day the Bell’s logo is used in the advertising of Inchgower.
During the 1960s Arthur Bell and Sons included Inchgower Scotch whisky as a component in the popular Bells blend, the vast majority of whisky produced at the distillery, as much as 99%, is used as a blending component (Johnnie Walker and White Horse blends) with only around only 1% of the total production of the distillery being sold as a single malt whisky. Lucky for us there are some Independent bottling’s around, such as this fine one from Royal Mile Whiskies.
Colour: Bright deep gold with slow long and thick legs.
Nose: Sweet, lovely and elegant nose with crème brûlée and braaied banana with burnt/caramelising sugar. There are also notes of sweet xmas spiciness and fruit cake mix as well as a custard sweetness with attractive citrus on the edges (mostly orange marmalade, for me).
Palate: Nice sweet winter spiciness on entry (tip of tongue mostly) that generates a nice warmth. The hot spiciness stays on the palate but with time some caramel, subdued citrus (oranges) and subtle dark chocolate nuances emerge. Palate has a lovely clean and full mouthfeel that coats the tongue.
Finish: A long finish that is winter spicy sweet with a nice dryness at the end.
Overall: My first introduction to an Inchgower whisky and what a cracker it is! I suspect that I will be sniffing out a few more independent bottling’s from this distillery for future enjoyment.
My Score: 88
The Smoky Dram 