Two years after the distillery’s first official whisky, InchDairnie bring us two new releases. The new KinGlassie 8 Years Raw and KinGlassie 8 Years Double Matured signal a new chapter. It’s not just the first peated whisky from InchDairnie, but also the first single malt.
InchDairnie is not a distillery built for any other purpose than to produce whisky. You might think that’s the primary goal for every new distillery built in the last two decades, but I’m not sure I would agree. Certainly a number of distilleries had whisky tourism top of mind when they were commissioned, while others were built to support and revive remote communities.
More than anything, InchDairnie is utilitarian. Designed to be useful, practical and flexible. It’s part of the company’s business model – with an end goal to produce as good a whisky as possible. That does need some context. There are other new distilleries with similarly lofty ambitions – many of them founded by certified whisky geeks. They often focus on things like heritage barley, long fermentation with specialty yeast and other traditional production methods. Although they certainly like to experiment, InchDairnie isn’t traditional.
InchDairnie is a distillery made by two engineers, founder Ian Palmer and managing director Scott Sneddon. Both have many decades of experience in whisky. Palmer formerly worked at Invergordon and for Whyte & Mackay, while Sneddon has previous experience at a number of Diageo malt distilleries. Together they are a formidable duo, designing InchDairnie to be an engineer’s wet dream. I’ve now visited the distillery twice and am still trying to wrap my head around every nifty little detail.
Maybe the most noteworthy piece of equipment is InchDairnie’s mash filter (always combined with a hammer mill). The only other mash filter you’ll find in Scotland is installed at Teaninich, not coincidentally a distillery where Sneddon used to work. A mash filter has several benefits, not the least of which is energy efficiency and reduced water use. It also extracts more sugars from the mash. As a result, InchDairnie’s mash is up to 10% alcohol, significantly higher than the industry average.
“Within Diageo they have maltings at Glen Ord, as well as Burghead and Roseisle,” Sneddon illustrates. “If they had a problematic batch of malt they wouldn’t send it to the normal distilleries. Instead they would send it to Teaninich to be processed there. Having a mash filter enables you to extract as much sugars out the malt as you can get. At the moment we’re getting very good harvests [….] but if you start to get anything problematic in your grain, a mash filter will always extract more than a traditional mash tun.”
The mash filter allows for flexibility, letting InchDairnie process different types of grain, including rye, oats and wheat. By changing yeast and cut points, or distilling in a Lomond Hill still instead of the distillery’s traditional pot stills, InchDairnie has been producing multiple different styles of spirits. Much of their production (75%) is sold to third parties, either as unpeated single malt (Strathenry) or peated single malt (Finglassie).
The other 25% will be released under the distillery’s own brand. You may know RyeLaw, which was first launched two years ago. (A second batch is expected later this year.) They also produce an unpeated single malt named InchDairnie. The distillery differentiates between InchDairnie made in different seasons, partly because its washbacks are outside (and not inside the distillery as per the norm). It means the weather affects fermentation. Sneddon: “We use winter barley and ale yeast for our winter and fall whiskies, which are more robust and meaty. Our spring and summer whiskies are made with spring barley and wine yeast, resulting in a lighter and fruitier spirit.”
Then there is a whole range of PrinLaws, a collection of experimental distillates. The first to hit the market will be an oat whisky made from at least 51% malted oats. InchDairnie has also done experiments with wheat, 6-row barley and a malted barley sour mash. Finally, there’s KinGlassie, which brings us back to where this blog post started.
KinGlassie is InchDairnie’s heavily peated whisky. As opposed to FinGlassie, which has already been bottled by a number of independents, it will never be sold to third parties. It’s made using a “special yeast recipe” and with St Fergus peat from Aberdeenshire. The barley, all sourced from within Fife, is peated to 50 parts per million on average. The spec range is 40 to 60 ppm, meaning there can be fluctuations between different vintages of KinGlassie.
Initially InchDairnie was planning on releasing just one expression of KinGlassie, the Double Matured. This peated single malt first matured for five years in ex-bourbon casks and then a further three years in Amontillado casks. “Our plan was to only take the Amontillado matured whisky out of the cask. The other [KinGlassie] that had been in ex-bourbon casks for the full eight years, we were going to let it rest for another four years. But we tasted the spirit, and it was like…”
Sneddon didn’t quite finish his sentence, but his message came across. The ex-bourbon matured KinGlassie impressed him and his colleagues, even though it is a decidedly uncommercial whisky. Consumers buy with their eyes and darker whisky is often associated with more flavour. There’s a reason InchDairnie bottled this release in an opaque bottle. The whisky is almost clear – more or less without colour. The name, KinGlassie Raw, is apt.
Not long after I received my press sample I poured a small glass for an industry insider. A professional blender even. Their reaction: “Are they really going to release this?” I loved that response. It wasn’t a comment on the KinGlassie’s quality per se, but rather on the colour. It’s a bold move to bottle such a whisky. I can only applaud InchDairnie for it. But will the risk be rewarded?
KinGlassie 8 Years Raw (46.3%, OB, 2025)
Nose: Raw indeed, but not brash. The malt forward nature of the distillery’s new make is evident (husks and mash), accompanied by a pleasant sweetness (almost honey-esque), hints of silage, hessian and subtle lemon drizzle cake as well as granny smith. The smoky notes are more campfire-esque than coastal, let alone medicinal. Definitely some vanilla foam blocks as well.
Taste: Mouthfeel, I don’t know. Slightly underwhelming initially, but water unlocks a pleasant creaminess. This is malty with a hint of sponge cake, then also moderately ashy, somewhat brackish and with a touch of red apple. Also smoked citrus fruits, and there’s a pinch of pepper in the background.
Finish: Medium length. A tad dry while sweet malty notes linger, as well hints as smoked husks.
KinGlassie 8 Years Double Matured (46.3%, OB, 2025)
Nose: Hints of tobacco, roasted walnuts and some polished oak, as well as comforting, warming bonfire smoke and dark chocolate. There might be a touch of tarragon too, and surely something lightly floral. Finally some darker, woody notes. Let’s say sandalwood, but maybe teak also.
Taste: Lovely chewy. Hints of walnuts and creamy pecan pralines, but also salted caramel and a touch of sweetened coffee. Thick wood smoke, gentle brine notes and a pinch of pepper. The Amontillado casks give the KinGlassie an entirely new dimension.
Finish: Medium length. Gentle malty notes, soft ashes and a sliver of aniseed. Then finally just a whisper of Demerara sugar.
Samples provided by InchDairnie
