Nicknamed as 'The Manzanilla of Speyside', the first-ever Inchgower Special Release in this series is a complex, surprising whisky which starts sweetly then becomes crisply aromatic and drying with a beautiful bitter-sweet drying finish.

Nose: Dry and savoury, with ripe fruits on a herbal and slightly spicy base; fruit boxes packed with red apples, a dusty malt barn, hessian sacks and walnuts, nut brittle toffee. Subtly aromatic, with mature oaky vanilla, dark chocolate, dry sawdust and polish. Later, sweet hints of melon.

Palate: First, cool and tangy, smooth and with a sweeter taste than expected; a sugary fruit compote. Soon drying, powerful and mint-clean, with a charred bitterness; flinty and toasty, growing increasingly appetising, with dark chocolate and grape skins, then savoury.

Finish: Long, with considerable spice; herbal, with drying cedar and clove, and black tea notes. Anappealingcharredandsavourynote.