Founded in 1959, with distilling commencing in 1961, Invergordon Distillery uses four (with a fifth just for neutral grain spirit) giant column stills, also known as Coffey Stills, that tower over 50 feet high with a capacity of at least 36 million litres of alcohol per year (some put it at 40m). The vast majority of this output, distilled from corn and wheat using the granite-filtered freshwater of nearby Loch Glass, goes into Whyte & Mackay’s blended whisky.

With grain whisky mainly destined for blends, it is often overlooked… but when left to age for longer periods it develops into a lovely subtle whisky in its own right.

Your whisky has spent just under twenty years in refill casks, slowly maturing and rounding off the sharp notes you get with young grain whisky, then I reracked into fresh Amarone barriques (225 casks)…sourced on my trip last year to Valpolicella from the Zyme vineyard, founded and run by the son-in-law and mentee of one of the two creators of Amarone wine, Celestino Gaspari. Celestino agreed for us to have access to his excellent casks if I return and share with him the whisky we create using them.

The aim of this finish in Amarone barriques was to add a little bit of extra depth the whisky needed, but still allowing the spirit’s essence to be the focus of this Club Bottle.

I hope you enjoy!

Dan – Club Founder