The Inchgower distillery was built in 1871 by Alexander Wilson & Co. to
replace the Tochineal Distillery. Equipment from this distillery was used for
the construction of Inchgower near the fishing village of Buckie; a little to
the northeast of the majority of the distilleries in Speyside, along the coast
and west of Banff and Glenglassaugh.

Arthur Bell & Sons made little changes to Inchgower until 1966 when they modernised the distillery and expanded the number of stills from two to four, doubling the capacity. The malt whisky that was distilled at Inchgower eventually became an important component of the Bell's blends. That wasn't the only blend it was used for though - it's part of the Johnnie Walker and White Horse blends too.
 
In fact, blends have always been very important in the life of Inchgower. After all, only 1% of the total production of the distillery is sold as a single malt whisky. With that in mind, it's hardly surprising that Inchgower malt whisky is very difficult to find at your average liquorist.

Official bottlings don't exist, unless you count the 'Flora & Fauna' and
'UD Rare Malts' bottlings as such. There have been some independent
bottlings over the years though. I had a quick look at my Track Record
and found a few bottlings from Cadenhead's, Adelphi, Hart Brothers,
Signatory Vintage and Helen Arthur. Still, there are surprisingly few
independent bottlings, given the considerable distillery output. 

It's a little strange that not all the whisky in the 13 warehouses is
Inchgower malt whisky. While there are a lot of casks from other
Diageo distilleries stored in the Inchgower warehouses that offer
room for 60,000 casks, most of the Inchgower malt whisky isn't
actually matured 'on site' but shipped elsewhere. I can't believe all
the moving back-and-forth of casks is good for the environment.
What's more, it indicates that 'terroir' isn't really that important.

1) Famous whisky writer Alfred Barnard visited Inchgower in 1885 and wrote: "... The buildings which are of stone and slate are erected in the form of an oblong quadrangle and cover nearly four acres of ground…. A modern work, and is fitted up with all the latest improvements of machinery and vessels."

2) The 'Flora & Fauna' bottlings of Inchgower feature a picture of an Oyster Catcher, a bird that is an annual visitor to this coastal area of Speyside.

3) More trivia about Inchgower will be added later.
 

Inchgower 26yo 1980/2007 (59.8%, Adelphi, C#14155, 223 Bts.)
Nose: Polished with loads of wood. Not very expressive at first, but it opens op. A little nutty. Raisins.
Some smoke. Starts off strong and improves by a few points after breathing.
Taste: Loads of wood with a fruity undercurrent. Very long, woody finish. Some tannins, but not too much.
The smoke and wood grow stronger (and a little more complex) over time.
Score: 90 points - It kept on growing on me, but I guess it's too extremely woody for some people.

Inchgower 24yo 1980/2005 (60.4%, Adelphi, Cask #14152)
Nose: Heavy sherry and cough syrup. Smoke. Wet dog. Organics. Spicy. Coffee. Sweetening out.
The bouquet seems strangely shallow at first, but there's some development over time. Needs ten minutes.
Second glass: Loads of dry sherry & organics in the nose at first. Ice tea with lemon. Wet dog. Sweetening out.
Taste: Sweet and fruity start, quickly growing smokier. Very thick, almost like a liqueur. Tia Maria.
Something sourish in the finish. After fifteen minutes the smoke starts to overpower everything else.
Score: 92 points - my kind of profile, but at first it seems a little 'superficial'. A late bloomer.
I had it in the mid 80's for the first ten minutes, but it kept growing on me as it opened up. Lovely!!!
Excellent on the palate as well, Sweet, fruity and supersmooth. Mega-complex This is just brilliant...

Inchgower 24yo 1980/2005 (54,7%, SMWS 18.24 'Emphatically fig-like')
Nose: Gooseberries. Lots of other subtle fruits. Some farmy organics as well.
Wonderful complexity. Hint of smoke? Sweet wood.
Taste: Smooth and fruity start. More 'contemplative' over time. Lovely wood and tannins in the finish.
Excellent mouth feel with a hint of smoke. Oh yeah, this one deserves a solid gold medal if you ask me.
Score: 91 points - at the MM Awards 2007 this came in at the 9th place on my personal hit list.

Inchgower 19yo (55.2%, Cadenhead, Sherry cask, Bottled 5/11/'04, 60 Bottles)
This came from a sherry cask that was supposedly bottled 'especially for the store' for a festival release.
Only 60 bottles? I guess there must be some left then, no? Well, it could have been a micro-cask, I suppose...
Anyway, the nose was very nice. Lots of sherry with subtle organics and spices. Mint?
The nose was very nice, but the palate is where it really shines; sweet and solid and not overly sherried at all.
Score: 87 points - lots of great fruits here; it illustrates why Inchgower has such a big reputation.

Inchgower 14yo 1989/2004 Port Finish (46%, Helen Arthur Single Cask)
Nose: Rich and creamy. Sweet. Nutty. Reminded me a bit of Glenmorangie 'Cellar 13'.
Then some soft spices emerge - quite nice. Hint of oil. Fatter and fruitier with time.
The nose is quite lovely - the port finish is fairly subtle, adding spice and liveliness.
Taste: Oy... Pine. A little herbal, leaning towards perfumy. Sweeter in the centre.
Minty fresh. A little sourish. Nagging tannins. Something fishy - like smoked herring.
Score: 80 points - but based on the nose alone it would have been mid-80's.
A recommendable dram, even though the port finish is fairly subtle here.

Inchgower 26yo 1976/2002 (49.9%, Hart Brothers, Distilled August '76, Bottled September '02, CVI)
Nose: Unique and very interesting. Coastal in the top of my nose. Briny and nutty.
Something very faintly medicinal. This malt shows some odd combinations...
Taste: Rather flat. Hot. Very bitter in the finish. It doesn't have enough 'body' for my tastes.
Score: 78 points - a smidgen above average, but a disappointment at this age and strength.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Inchgower whisky I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions.

On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made at this distillery.
Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

Inchgower was fairly self sufficient - the distillery had its own cooperage
and forge while housing for distillery workers was part of the buildings too.
Unfortunately, this didn't prevent the owners Alexander Wilson & Co. from
going bankrupt in 1936. The Inchgower distillery was bought by the Buckie
Town Council for the bargain basement price of £1,600. They made a neat
little profit when hey sold it on to Arthur Bell & Sons in 1938 for 3,000 GBP.

Anyway - back to the history... In 1985 Arthur Bell & Sons was taken over by Guinness,
which evolved into UDV (United Distillers & Vintners) in 1987, together with DCL.
This company was one of the predecessors of industry giant Diageo.

Inchgower has a stainless steel semi lauter
mash tun and six Oregon pine washbacks.
In 2006 and 2007 Inchgower was closed for
refurbishment for almost a year. One of the
most significant changes was the installation
of a so-called 'closed yeast pitching system'
that added yeast to the wash automatically.
This innovations gives more control over the
style of the whisky, but is less 'traditional'.

Like in most other modern distilleries, malting
of the barley doesn't happen at Inchgower
anymore. These days the barley is malted at
an external Diageo facility. Inchgower's malt
is made at Burghead, 20 miles to the west.

And I guess that's all I can tell you about Inchgower. The distillery may be a little light on history and quirky details, but the malt whisky is of excellent quality - at least the stuff they used to distill around 1980.