Inchgower 1976 - 18 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 9891

One of the great unsung Speyside distilleries, Inchgower’s importance to owner Diageo’s blends (particularly Bell’s) is so crucial that it is rarely officially bottled as a single malt. Inchgower’s spirit is known for its robust quality and structure, and is therefore well-suited both to long ageing and to sherry casks, but it also shines in refill bourbon casks where its clean, muscular profile can develop beautifully over longer maturation periods.

Inchgower was officially bottled as a 12-year-old ‘From the House of Bell's’ from the early 1970s until the late 1980s, when it was replaced by the Flora & Fauna 14-year-old. The best official bottlings are a pair of excellent Inchgower Rare Malts from 1974 and 1976 released in 1997 and 2004. Outstanding independent bottlings of 1960s and 1970s Inchgower vintages have been bottled by Cadenhead’s, Douglas Laing, Moon Import and the SMWS, among others.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.