Inchgower 1980-2007 - 26 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Cask Strength Collection - Single Cask 14144

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.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.