Sometimes I find a whisky with a certain profile that I find very hard to define, but oh so delicious. It happened with an Inchgower 1982 from Duncan Taylor. It also happened with a 1982 Clynelish I had during the BTC a few years ago.

There’s a certain flavor in there that I thoroughly enjoy but find very hard to pin down. But I know it when I find it in a dram. And somehow, I’ve never taken the plunge to actually buy a bottle of this stuff I love so much. Mostly because the releases were timed to perfection with the depletion of my whisky budget. I know I should save for the true gems to come by. I’m trying hard.

Anyway, when these drams came by in 2011, I was able to get some samples, and I got this sample from GJR, like an old Caol Ila a while back. He’s a nice chap and is also on the board of the Usquebaugh Society as our book keeper. He’s good at that. Even though we generally don’t like what he has to say…

So, booze. Good booze if history is any sort of indication. And a mental note to myself to keep an eye out for 1982 Clynelish and Inchgower.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Yup. This has that scent. Leather and beeswax. Wax and wood. Thát scent. Some chili pepper and paprika too. Oak, and just a tad thin or watery.

Sip:
The palate brings vanilla, honey, beeswax. Some resin, candles and old oak. Some dry leather and simple syrup. Pepper, chili and black. Quite spicy and an orange like bitter note that’s quite nice.

Swallow:
The finish is dry and rich. Beeswax, honey and some oak again.

This whisky does have that lovely old scent and flavor, but it’s not as complex or rich as some of the others I’ve tried. That doesn’t mean it’s not good, but it’s just not as good as some others that were more expensive back in the day.

It’s a very tasty whisky and I’d love to spread some of this around to get an indication of what that elusive flavor is, but I’d have to spend money and my wife and I just agreed to not do that for a while. At least, not on luxury items we don’t necessarily need.

I do recommend getting a bottle of this. It’s available on the Whiskybase marketplace for € 120, which is a fair price.

Inchgower 1982-2011, 29yo, 53.9%, Hogshead 6690, Whiskybroker.co.uk