Inchgower Distillery, Buckie: The Coastal Blend Malt

Overview

Inchgower is a coastal Speyside distillery on the edge of the fishing town of Buckie, on the Moray Firth. It was built in 1871 to replace the older Tochineal distillery near Cullen. It is best known as a key malt in Bell’s blended whisky. Its history has an odd twist: in 1936 it was owned for two years by Buckie Town Council, before Arthur Bell & Sons bought it in 1938. Today it belongs to Diageo and is not open to visitors.

Where it is

The distillery stands on the A98 on the eastern edge of Buckie, near Rathven, about a mile from the sea. Elgin is about 17 miles west, Keith about 12 miles south, and the fine coastal villages of Portknockie, Cullen and Portsoy lie along the road east.

The full history

1871: from Tochineal to Inchgower

The distillers of Tochineal, near Cullen, built a new and larger distillery at Inchgower in 1871. It made a robust, slightly salty malt that suited the blenders. The founding firm went into liquidation in 1903, and the distillery passed through several hands.

The council’s distillery

In 1936, during the Depression, Buckie Town Council bought the distillery, one of the few times a local authority has owned a whisky distillery. Two years later, in 1938, it sold it to Arthur Bell & Sons of Perth, who needed malt for their fast-growing Bell’s blend. Bell’s logo still features in Inchgower’s branding.

Bell’s, Guinness and Diageo

Guinness bought Arthur Bell & Sons in 1985, and the business became part of United Distillers in 1987 and then Diageo in 1997. Inchgower still makes malt mainly for Bell’s. Its only official single malt has been a 14-year-old in Diageo’s Flora & Fauna series.

How it’s made

Inchgower has two wash stills and two spirit stills, with a capacity of about 2 million litres a year. Its water comes from a burn rising in the Menduff Hills south of Buckie. The spirit is fruity and nutty, with a slightly salty, coastal edge.

Clans & the land

• The Gordons: Gordon Castle at Fochabers, 8 miles west, was the great seat of the Dukes of Gordon, and much of the land between Spey and Deveron was theirs. See Clan Gordon.
• The Ogilvies of Findlater: on the cliffs east of Cullen stand the ruins of Findlater Castle, an Ogilvie stronghold perched over the sea. The Ogilvies, later Earls of Findlater, built Cullen House.
• The Grants of Seafield inherited the Findlater lands through marriage in the 18th century and became Earls of Seafield.

Churches, stones & the coast

• Cullen Auld Kirk, a medieval collegiate church with fine Ogilvie monuments, about 6 miles east.
• Deskford Church, a ruin near Cullen with a beautifully carved sacrament house of 1551, one of the best surviving in Scotland.
• Bow Fiddle Rock, Portknockie: a striking sea arch, 4 miles east. See our standing stones guide for ancient sites.
• There are few lochs here. Loch na Bo, near Lhanbryde, is the closest. See our lochs guide.

Buckie & the fishing coast

Buckie grew in the 19th century into one of the busiest fishing ports on the Moray Firth. It had a large fleet of herring drifters, and later steam drifters, which followed the shoals around Britain. The Buckie & District Fishing Heritage Centre tells that story. Along the coast, the old fishing villages of Findochty and Portknockie have rows of brightly painted cottages set gable-end to the sea. Buckie is also the northern end of the Speyside Way, the long-distance path that follows the Spey inland past many of the great Speyside distilleries. At Spey Bay, about 6 miles west, the Scottish Dolphin Centre overlooks the river mouth, where bottlenose dolphins are often seen. Next to it stands the Tugnet Ice House, built in 1830 to store salmon, the largest of its kind in Scotland.

Visiting

Inchgower is production only, with no visitor centre or tours. For a distillery visit nearby, try Strathisla at Keith or Glenglassaugh at Portsoy.

Nearby distilleries

• Strathisla and Glen Keith, Keith (about 12 miles).
• Glenglassaugh, Portsoy (about 14 miles).
• Speyburn, Glen Grant and Glenrothes, Rothes (about 15 miles).
• Glen Moray, Elgin (about 17 miles).

The Speyside Whisky Trail and the whisky hub cover the region.

Sources

• Inchgower distillery — Wikipedia.
• Diageo / Malts.com.
• Historic Environment Scotland (Deskford Church, Findlater Castle).