Inchgower Distillery

The relatively unknown Inchgower distillery was founded as a matter of desperation and necessity in 1871. Alexander Wilson had been running the Tochieneal distillery near the town of Cullen in Speyside which was founded by his uncle some 40 years before. But in 1870 the landlord doubled the rent on these small premises, well beyond Wilson’s ability to pay.

He moved to the coast, by the fishing town of Buckie in Banffshire, and built Inchgower, filling it with the original equipment from Tochieneal. The Wilson family would go on to run Inchgower for the next 65 years without major incident until the company collapsed.

For two years Inchgower was technically in public ownership. The Town Council at Buckie bought the distillery and Wilson family home after the company’s bankruptcy in 1936. The town wasn’t interested in running the distillery, however, and sold it to Arthur Bell & Sons two years later for £3,000.

Under Bell’s ownership the distillery was renovated in 1966 with the addition of two new stills. Guinness became the owner in 1985 when they bought Arthur Bell and Sons. This set it on the path to falling under the ownership of Diageo, who still make heavy use of Inchgower for their blended whiskies.

The distillery is equipped with an 8.4 ton mash tun, six Oregon Pine washbacks with a short fermentation time averaging around 50 hours, and two pairs of stills. Water for the distillery comes from Minduff Burn. It has the capacity to produce 3.2 million litres of spirits a year.

The only official bottling from Inchgower is a 14 year old single malt in the Flora & Fauna Range. The aromas on this whisky are light and briny, with notes of citrus and barley. On the palate it is sweet, but also contains salt and some spices. These continue into the short, bitter finish. More recently a 27 year old came out in the Special Releases Range in 2018. A wide range of independent bottlings are also available from companies such as Douglas Laing, Old Particular, and That Boutique-y Whisky Company.