Welcome 2023! Here's an Ardmore Cluster!

Having been a refuge for the coronavirus on the third week of the year......and then again on the third-to-last week of the year, then burying my last grandparent, and being involuntarily moved to the most difficult job of my life, I am happy to see 2022 in the rearview mirror. But the year wasn't a total bust. I started dating. Yeah, watch out, ladies. Ladies?

**crickets wanking**

Oh yeah, I don't have any non-male readers anymore. It's a veritable snausage festival up in here, so I'm just gonna manspread while I type the rest of this.

Back in August, I tweeted this:

On this, my 44th birthday, I would like to thank the Scotch whisky industry for convincing me to get back to buying American whisky again. Thank you. 🫶

— kravitz underscore hubris (@kravitz_hubris) August 24, 2022

As a result I'm going to bring sexy Bourbon and Rye Day Friday back in March.

I've gotten requests for more Killing Whisky History videos (yes, really), so I'm going to try to do a few this new year.

And clusters? Here's one!

It's about damned time I had some Ardmore, so I'm going to start the year with a month of 'em. Each of the 12, except the first, will be from the direct-fired stills-era (specifically 1996-2000 in this case) and bottled at 20 or more years of age. If you don't already know, I adore this distillery, but I've never lined up multiple Ardmores side-by-side. I may even open up one of my own bottles. Yes, you read that correctly.

Will Ardmore and I still have warm feelings for each other at the end of this cluster? Or will 2023 begin with whisky heartbeak? Stay tuned!

(For more on Ardmore's history, please see this mini three-part series. Part One. Part Two. Part Three.)

ARDMORE ROLL CALL:

1. Ardmore 17 year old 2003 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 598 for K&L - "...contemporary approach to Ardmore, with lots of smoke and cask influence..."

2. Ardmore 24 year old 1996 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 3515 - "Beach, farm, industry, soil, rocks, fruits, dunnage, yeah."

3. Ardmore 21 year old 1998 Single Malts of Scotland, cask 750753 - "A very naked Ardmore."

4. Ardmore 20 year old 1997 SMWS 66.138 - "To recap: neat = curious and awkward; diluted = brighter and cuddlier."

5. Ardmore 21 year old 1997 SMWS 66.146 - "Every Ardmore can't be great. And this one..."

6. Ardmore 22 year old 1997 SMWS 66.168 - "A simple huggable Ardmore...it does what it needs to do..."

7. Ardmore 22 year old 1997 SMWS 66.174 - "...the neat palate hits that earth + citrus style I always enjoy."

8. Ardmore 20 year old 1996 Old Malt Cask, cask HL13770 - "...a clean, lean 20 year old single malt with just a touch of oak influence."

9. Ardmore 21 year old 1998 Thompson Brothers - "...more of a brawler...a relative of Caol Ila..."

10. Ardmore 21 year old 1997 Whisky-Doris, cask 901456 - "It's kinda perfect."

11. Ardmore 24 year old 1997 WhiskySponge, edition 76 - "...reads younger than its age...feels like it wasn't done cooking when it was bottled."

12. Ardmore 22 year old 2000 WhiskySponge, edition 69 - "...an Ardmore for sherry cask fans rather than Ardmore fans."
Cluster Conclusion

Inchgower 16 year old 1967 Cadenhead dumpy

Yes, the previous whisky was older but I wanted to end 2022 with this one.

The whiskies within the black-labelled Cadenhead dumpy bottles are dreamy, and I'm not entirely sure if ol' Cadenhead has ever topped that consistently outrageous quality since. My new year's wish is for all of you to have a chance to try one of those bottlings — owning an actual bottle is no longer a realistic goal — as they offer their own sort of whisky education about what was, and what is. Even a Tullibardine will do. Here's an Inchgower.

Distillery: Inchgower
Region: Speyside (Banffshire)
Owner at time distillation: Arthur Bell & Sons
Independent Bottler: Cadenhead
Age: at least 16 years (1967 - 1983)
Maturation: ??????????
Bottled for: ME! (I wish)
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose: Dunnage and burlap. Mushrooms and black walnuts. Hot tar and Hot damn. Semi-sweet ganache. Hints of band-aids and the ocean. And then come the guavas and peaches.

Oh dear, the palate matches the nose. Black walnuts, tar, band-aids and dunnage. Tart guavas and sweet oranges. Horseradish bitterness, sea salt, bonfire smoke. It has basically everything.

Raw nuts, salt, stones, tar, and a few squeezes of tart grapefruit and sweet clementine are swept up in the finish's plumes of coal smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I knew this was going to be good but......this is one of the best whiskies I've had in ages. Like the Moncreiffe, this Cadenhead Inchgower holds a significant amount of smoke. But like ye olde Laphroaigs and Ardbegs it infuses so many other characteristics into that smoke, especially a stunning balance of sweet and tart and salt. What a lovely capper at the end of a less-than-lovely year. See you on the other side!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - Don't tell me

Rating - 93

Inchgower 21 year old 1967 Moncreiffe, Meregalli Import

Now it's time for the real motivation behind this Inchgower series: two Inchgowers distilled in 1967. That's how I'm closing this year out.

Arthur Bell & Sons updated the distillery a bit in the '60s as Bell's Extra Special won the hearts and livers of scotch drinkers in Scotland. They doubled their stills from two to four in 1966, and switched from floor malting to sourcing, though when they did the latter is a bit unclear. So it's possible these next two Inchgowers came from the old floor maltings. SPOILER ALERT: These are very different whiskies than the Inchgowers I previously reviewed. Something must account for that, and I'm thinking it's the malt!

First one:

Distillery: Inchgower
Region: Speyside (Banffshire)
Owner at time distillation: Arthur Bell & Sons
Independent Bottler: Moncreiffe & Company
Age: at least 21 years (1967 - 19??)
Maturation: SHERRY casks (all caps, my caps)
Bottled for: Meregalli Import, Monza, Italy
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

This is easily the darkest whisky I've had this year. Like Stagg-in-your-black-coffee dark. But don't put Stagg in your coffee please, unless you're ready to drink it on the toilet. Where was I?

The nose is MASSIVE. Coal smoke and dates and figs and very dark chocolate. Raw nuts and salt and toffee pudding. Seaweed! Ultra-aged sake (try it when in Japan!). It gets earthier with time, and picks up a whiff of dunnage funk.

Wow, the citrus rocks the palate. Limes and yuzu, peels and juices. Figs and coal smoke. Sultanas in black strap molasses. Dried savory herbs arrive later, as the sultanas and smoke swell.

"Power Citrus" reads my finish notes. Mizunara-style incense. A few dates, some heavy smoke and a hint of herbal bitterness arise in later sips.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yes, you read that correctly, lots of smoke in an Inchgower! ❤ It's an absolute hammer at 46%abv. Subtlety be damned, it's loud and rude and glorious and this is what old Inchgower was like???! (See here and here for additional happy takes.) I can't wait to get to the next one!

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???

Rating - 92

Inchgower 28 year old 1985 The Whisky Agency

Inchgower went corporate in 1985. Guinness consumed the distillery's former owner, Arthur Bell & Sons, as the beast slowly grew into United Distillers / Diageo via hostile takeovers. The Bell's Extra Special blend was a hot property at the time, as it held more than a 1/3 of the UK market. Swallowing Bell's, Guinness gained a trio of distilleries in the process: Bladnoch, Pittyvaich and Inchgower. Inchgower has been the only one of the three to distill without pause across the past four decades, and is the only one still in Diageo's portfolio.

Today's Inchie may have been distilled during the Bell's era, or was among the earliest batches produced by its new corporate overlords.

Distillery: Inchgower
Region: Speyside (Banffshire)
Owner: Diageo
Independent Bottler: The Whisky Agency
Series: Stamps
Age: 28 years (1985-2013)
Maturation: refill hogshead
Outturn: 266 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 53.8%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose begins with bananas, barrel char and paint VOCs. Lemons and mineral white wine develop after 30 minutes, then circus peanuts a bit later. The palate comes in with a curious mix of dried ginger, cardamom pods, moss and sweet riesling. Tangy chiles and a woody bitterness fill in the middle and background. Black peppercorns and tart limes move to the fore after nearly 45 minutes. It finishes sweet and bourbony, until some tart limes and dried herbs make things interesting.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Now I find dates, pecans, lemonade and circus peanuts in the nose. The woody bitterness and tart citrus expand in the palate, with peppercorns in the background. It finishes grassy and tart, with plenty of bitter oak.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Serge was a bigger fan of this than I, as was Ruben and the Whiskybase community. The tartness and sweetness worked well on the palate, and the nose was never boring, but the bitterness — though interesting — was too woody for my mouth. Feels like something that stayed in the cask for too long, and as a result the whisky shares none of the great characteristics of the previously reviewed Inchgowers. For a different take, please see the aforementioned experienced palates' takes on the whisky.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???

Rating - 82

Inchgower 30 year old 1990 Old Particular, cask DL14899 for K&L

I'm always game for some old Inchgower, so when I saw an opportunity to get in on a bottle split of a recent K&L Wine Merchants single hoggie of 30(!) year old Inch I leapt at it with both legs and some cash. Like Friday's OB, this indie Inchgower is from the 1990 vintage and spent its life in refill American oak. Expectations are set moderately high...

Distillery: Inchgower

Region: Speyside (Banffshire)

Owner: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Douglas Laing
Range: Old Particular

Age: alllllllmost 31 years (Oct 1990 - Sept 2021)

Maturation: refill hogshead

Cask #: DL 14899
Outturn: 225 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 54.4%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Spiced apple cider, honey and roses lead the nose. Ocean water, lemon and a hint of caramel fill in the background. There's a bit more wood in the palate but still plenty of bright fruit: think applesauce, lemons and limes. A swirl of golden syrup, cardamom and honey moves forward slowly. It finishes tart, slightly sweet and lightly tannic with hints of anise and peppercorns in the far back.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Apple, cinnamon and ocean compose the nose's body, with new notes of shortbread and mango providing highlights. The palate becomes hardier with tarter and bitterer citrus. Smaller notes of honey and cherry candy offer sweetness. Some more oak shows up, but I don't mind it as it reads almost smoky. It finishes sweeter with hints of tart and tannin.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Another one bottled at just the right time. The oak seems almost ready to take over, but it doesn't! I think I prefer it with the extra oomph that dilution provides. The spice and zing make it a better winter drinker than the average Inchgower. Because the OB Special Release had the benefit of being a small batch, it's slightly more rounded and complex than this 30yo, but they're very close in quality. Good stuff.

Availability - Might still be available at K&L?
Pricing - $250

Rating - 87

Inchgower 27 year old 1990, Special Release 2018

If you haven't resigned yourself to the fact that Diageo and Pernod Ricard (and their predecessors) have emptied thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the greatest casks of malt whisky ever made into their mass market blends over the past century, then......well......keep walking drinking, my brothers and sisters.

Inchgower is one of the What-If distilleries that always come to mind. It's been one of the main malts in Bell's for at least 85 years, and I've always wondered, "What if the malt was allowed to shine and develop as one of the Classic Malts?" Yeah, there have been Flora & Fauna bottlings, but I've yet to have an F&F that has left me thinking that I was getting anything better than middle-of-the-road casks from any of the distilleries, with perhaps Dailuaine being the only exception.

Thankfully, Diageo offers up a Special Release series each year. Unthankfully, the prices ceased being reasonable almost a decade ago. But all those bottlings have not blasted off the shelves. Today's 27yo Inchgower was released more nearly five years ago, but can still be found for its original SRP at primary markets in North America, Europe and Asia. It wasn't priced too extravagantly, often below $400. But who was paying $400 for non-single-cask Inchgower in 2018. Hell, who is paying $400 for single cask Inchgower now? Though I don't make a habit of spending $200 on a bottle I've never tried, this release could have been an exception at that price. But here we are, 2023 is approaching and I have finally sourced a sample.

A pinch to grow 'er an Inch?

Distillery: Inchgower

Region: Speyside (Banffshire)

Owner: Diageo

Series: Special Releases 2018
Age: 27 years (1990 - 2018)
Maturation: refill hogsheads
Outturn: 8544 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 55.3%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Honey on cornbread. Mint, apple peels, lychee and lemon bars. The nose starts very nicely. American oak appears in the background a little later, offering bananas, cream puffs and Boston cream pastries. The palate launches with malt, tart lemons and ginger candies. Salt and vanilla drift through the background. It's never too sweet, and it does have some savoriness here and there. The simple but long finish shows orange zest, ginger and cinnamon.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Fruits (guava, lychee and apple) and spices (cardamom and clove) arrive first in the nose, followed by some old dusty oak. The palate reads sweeter now with lots of citrus candy. A tangy chile or two, and a dash of salt, add some balance. Gentle tannins arrive later. It finishes with citrus candy, guava and honey.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

One gets the sense that, out of the 40+ hoggies forming this batch, there were a few rich second fills and a few lean fourth fills. It's all blended together pretty well. The fruit's allowed to sing, and the oak never bullies its way to the fore, so it works for my nose and palate. I'm not sure if Diageo will ever offer a Inchgower at this age again, so perhaps $300 isn't too unreasonable in this market. What say ye, Inchgower fans out there?

Availability - Not too hard to find
Pricing - $250-$450

Rating - 88

Inchgower 13 year old 1994 Manager's Dram

Who has two thumbs and two rounds of Covid? This guy! Luckily the second burst came in at half the strength of the first. My palate and nose were fine throughout (I give them an 85!), but I did put whisky and other poisons aside for over a week. I tested them before dipping back into the review game. Grateful for my vaccine power-ups, I am ready to go.

Without further ado, the Inchgower series continues with Diageo's Manager's Dram, a series that preceded the Manager's Choice by a couple of years. (To note, I don't believe this was a single cask because the pic on Whiskybase shows "Bottle 0805".) This one went side-by-side with my great '95 single sherry butt.

Distillery: Inchgower

Region: Speyside (Banffshire)

Owner: Diageo
Range: The Manager's Dram

Age: 13 years (1994 - 7 June 2007)

Maturation: possibly a sherry cask?

Outturn: ???? bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 58.9%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Almond butter arrives first in the nose, and sticks around a while. Green grapes and apple peels meet with it well. Burlier notes, like dried leaves, ocean brine, and a bit cruciferous veg appear next, followed by crème brûlée and orange zest. Earthy bitter chocolate and raw nuts hit the palate first. Hints of raspberry jam and graphite sit in the background, but nothing else materializes other than heat. It finishes hot, bitter and earthy, with just a little bit of citrus in the back.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Now vaguer, and less focused, the nose offers only walnuts, brine and some organic funkiness. The palate also fades. Bright bitterness, soil, a little bit of chocolate, and a lot of ethyl heat, is all it offers. It finishes with that bitter chocolate note.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

While I appreciate the hardier, drier sherry style of this whisky, it just could not stand up to the 21yo 1995 Old Malt Cask. Though it would probably wallop many contemporary sherry cask whiskies, that doesn't mean it deserves superlatives. Its strength is in the nose, and the palate seems to beg for water, but hydration does it no favors. Drink it neat, and be ready for a dry, lean, hot Inchgower.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???

Rating - 84 (neat only)