Inver House 21 year old Blended Scotch Whisky

Information

Distillery: Blended Scotch Whisky
Bottling: Inver House 21 year old
Age: 21
Strength: 43%

After my tour of Inver House I discussed this bottle with Malcolm Leask and managed to get some information. The 43% indicates that it is was export and was destined for Asia. It appears that it was possibly bottled in the early 90s, which would mean the whisky contained was distilled sometime in the 70s. I have forwarded the picture on to the experts at Inver House and I will update this page once I can find out some more.

Nose: This is very light and mild on the nose, but typical of lower strength whiskies so not particularly a bad thing for this whisky itself. Fruits in the way of apple, pear and tropical pineapple notes. Chocolate, Vanilla, Pecan nuts, hazelnuts. Coconut. Cereal notes of Rolled Oats, Granary Rolls, malt biscuits and Horlicks.

Palate: I can't decide whether this is mild or flat. I spent so much time above 50% ABV everything under does tend to be this way, but I am trying to enjoy more at a lower strength. This will be more important if I am going to try and source bottlings from an older time where higher ABV was just not common. Cadbury's Fruit & Nut bars. Nutella, fruity and honeyed. Very easy drinking.

Finish: Pretty short finish with spiced apple, vanilla and some grain.

Inver House Tour

Today my brother and I went a tour of Inver House distillers' facilities in Airdrie. As a life long resident of Airdrie and also a massive Balblair fan, I wanted to know more about blended whisky and in particular Inver House's blends in which Balblair is a main component.

This tour was kindly organised by Gillian Gibson, the Global Brand Manager for Balblair and anCnoc single malt whiskies, and I was left in the very capable hands of Mark Williamson, Assistant Blender.

Due to this being a busy and working facility I was not able to take many photographs. Mark us to one of the vast warehouses and we all spoke in depth about whisky, malts, blends, and the industry in general. He showed us round the blending and vatting areas, the bottling plant and finished off with taking us to the blending lab where he had laid out an array of spirits for us to nose and taste.

We got to try new make spirit for Balblair, Knockdhu, Pulteney and Balmenach single malts, as well as new make grain whisky which goes into their core blends. Finally Mark took us through the core blends of Cattos, MacArthurs, Hankey Bannister Original, Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend, and Hankey Bannister 12 year old, and how they are put together with the various components. I urge you to try and seek out a bottle of the Heritage Blend, at 46% it really stands out strong and is pretty tasty. When I get a bottle I will review it.

Again, thanks for Gillian and Mark for facilitating this.