The Basics:

Character: Fruity, nutty and smoky.

Score: 95/100

The details:

To honor the release of the inaugural official bottling from InchDairnie, which has been hitting the UK specialist retailers over the last several weeks, I thought I’d review what was one of the earliest (possibly the first!) independent bottlings, this one from the Vintage Malt Whisky Co’s Cooper’s Choice range. I already have a bottle of the “official” inaugural release, thanks to my wife’s generosity, but it will likely be a while before I get around to opening it, so for now…

InchDairnie was founded in 2015 by industry veteran Ian Palmer, who foresaw  a need for a new distillery to reliably provide flavorsome malt whisky to blending houses due to the increased pressure on existing single malt brands from the category’s popularity. Unlike many new distilleries, InchDairnie is designed for both sizable production capacity (at 2,000,000 liters, it outstrips many upstarts 10-20 fold), and also innovation. Although it is only just releasing an inaugural 8 year old malt, it’s been releasing rye whisky (technically, grain whisky in Scotland) for some time now; moreover, like many of its Lowland contemporaries, it produces a fair amount of peated spirit, with both this indie release and it’s first official release being peated. In another departure from recent malt distilleries, InchDairnie is intentionally designed to provide fillings for blends as much as single malt. 

Like a number of other Scottish distilleries, InchDairnie distinguishes its peated make with a special name, in its case, KinGlassie. It’s not entirely clear whether Cooper’s Choice changed a letter for trademark issues, or because they missed the memo and mistakenly thought the correct name was Finglassie rather than Kinglassie. In any event, this youthful peated Lowlander was matured in American oak before finishing in a marsala cask that shows an unmistakable–and largely salutary–influence on the spirit. It’s lovely stuff, with a huge hit of rather rich, woody, smoke but also lots of nuts and darker fruit notes. Peat and active wine finishes can sometimes cancel each out, but here they’re working together happily. Good stuff, showing much promise for this young distillery. At 54% abv, it’s probably cask strength, even given its youth, but I don’t recall seeing that explicitly specified so…who knows, for sure?

InchDairnie 2021 (Cooper’s Choice – “Finglassie” Lowland Smoke) – 54.0% abv

Tasting notes:

Nose: Very winey with the Marsala to the fore. White grapes, walnut, but also plenty of gentle woodsmoke–a nice balance between the smoke and the grape. Charbroiled steak. Lapsang Souchang tea.

Body: Medium, with a slightly hard edge.

Palate: Much, much smokier; woodsmoke, bonfire, charcoal, creosote and tarred rope. But also a gentle nuttiness–walnut or Brazil nut–and a subtle fruitiness. Plum? Complex, balanced and delicious. Becoming fruitier, sweeter, and more exuberant.

Finish: Medium to long. Grape or plum hard candy. Becoming dry and ashy.

Score: 95/100

Who should buy it?: If you enjoy the interplay of smoke and a pretty peppy wine cask, you’ll probably love this; if you only want really rough and aggressive peat just barely tamed by some worn out bourbon wood, you might find this a little mannered and tame.

Overall thoughts: Lovely fruity, nutty, smoky deliciousness.

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