One of these samples I found in my collection. Yet again.

Inchmurrin, as some of you will know, is one of the many brands of Loch Lomond Distillery in Alexandria, near the loch of the same name. Inchmurrin is one of the islands in the lake, and is used as one of their brand names, next to Inchfad, Inchmoan, Loch Lomond and Croftengea. I’m probably forgetting some.

There is some method to the madness of their branding, but if memory serves, Inchmurrin uses a specific setup of their stills in which they cool their rectifier. There’s something about yeast strains too, but I don’t know specifics about that.

Anyway, Inchmurrin is a brand they’ve used for ages, but if I check the vintages available on Whiskybase, it’s been really patchy until the mid-nineties. There have been quite a few bottlings from the mid seventies, though. Even one that was relabeled by Cadenhead themselves, over a decade after it was initially released and then forgotten about.

This one wasn’t forgotten, except by me. It’s one of these Cadenhead releases of which I got a sizeable sample and then put it on my shelf in 2016. There were only 25 bottles released, apparently!

Sniff:
Lots of white oak, and while there is vanilla, it’s not all encompassing. Some dry baking spices and coconut flakes. Hessian, sawdust.

Sip:
The palate is much drier, with more focus on the oak, with heaps of barley too. Coconut flakes again, with vanilla and apple pie. Very light with a hint of salinity.

Swallow:
The finish is very mellow with a bit less vanilla here. More coconut, more sawdust, more dried apple. Lots of bready barley notes.

To me there are definite pros and cons to this whisky. Technically it’s all okay with it being interesting, and old. As in, it tastes rather old. The Inchmurrin setup generally makes for interesting drinking and this one is no different.

However, for a 42 year old whisky I would have expected a bit more complexity. It seems the cask hasn’t necessarily taken over the distillate, but it did mellow it so much that there’s wasn’t much left of it either.

This sounds overly negative, and that’s not entirely justified. It’s proper whisky, but I would expect more of a 42 year old whisky, or anything I pay € 200 per bottle for.

87/100

Inchmurrin 42yo, 1974-2016, Bourbon Barrel, 44.3%, Cadenhead Authentic Collection. No longer available.