A Second Cigar Malt From Fife's Young Independent Bottler
Saltire Rare Malt has released the second bottling in its Cigar Malt series, and this time the liquid comes from Inchgower, the Speyside distillery near the fishing town of Buckie. The Cigar Malt Edition 2 is a 15-year-old single malt bottled at 48.8% ABV. Only 298 bottles exist, priced at £120, roughly $160 at the exchange rate cited in the trade coverage. It went on sale in October 2026 through the company's own website.
The release follows a pattern the Falkland, Fife bottler has built since its first bottles appeared in 2024: single casks, no blending, no standardizing, and a strength that never drops below the 48.8% mark. For readers who track independent bottlers, the Inchgower is a useful marker of how quickly a two-year-old label has settled into a recognizable house style.
The numbers at a glance
Distillery: Inchgower. Age: 15 years. Strength: 48.8% ABV. Outturn: 298 bottles. Price: £120. Series: Cigar Malt, second release. Cask type has not been disclosed in the coverage available at the time of writing, which means buyers cannot yet say whether this was sherry, bourbon or something else. The selectors, Hans and Becky Offringa, chose the cask for its character, and the bottler has said only that much about its origin.
What the Brand Says Is in the Glass
Saltire describes the whisky as medium-bodied with a long finish. The tasting notes lead with orange marmalade and cherry pipe tobacco, followed by stewed red apples and ground cloves. Honeycomb and warm leather balance the spice. The bottler positions it as a dram that can sit alongside a fine cigar or be sipped on its own.
These are the brand's own notes, not an independent review, and they should be read that way. Still, the profile is coherent: a fruit-forward core, a layer of baking spice and a leathery, tobacco-leaf finish that explains why the series carries its name. Co-founder Keith Rennie summed up the pitch: "This Inchgower is a remarkable whisky, packed with rich fruit, warming spice and real character."
Why the series is built around pairing
The Cigar Malt idea is simple. Rather than treat the cigar as an afterthought, Saltire selects casks it believes stand up to a long smoke: enough weight, enough spice, enough fruit to avoid being flattened. Rennie described how the first release was received with the line "The response to our first Cigar Malt was incredible." That first edition set the template that the Inchgower now follows.
Looking Back at Cigar Malt Edition 1
The series debuted in spring 2025 with an 18-year-old Speyside single malt, the oldest whisky the company had bottled to that point. It was distilled at Speyside Distillers, which the launch coverage described as a "lost distillery." Production was larger, with 336 bottles at £162 each, again at 48.8% ABV.
That whisky took its deep copper color from first-fill Pedro Ximenez and Bodegas Ximenez-Spinola casks. The Offringas described a "beautiful copper colour," a nose of "unripe pineapple, spicy oak, and maple syrup on pancakes," and a finish of "a maraschino cherry infused with Angostura bitters, milk chocolate, and a hint of liquorice in the finish." Keith Rennie said at the time: "We are so proud to announce the first release from our brand-new Cigar Malt Series."
How the two editions compare
The second edition is younger by three years, smaller by 38 bottles and £42 cheaper. The first was a sherry-driven 18-year-old with a dark copper look and notes of pineapple, maple and cherry. The second, going by the brand's description, leans on orange peel, pipe tobacco and orchard fruit. They share the strength and the selectors, and little else, which suggests the series is defined by a purpose rather than a single flavor.
Who Is Behind Saltire Rare Malt
Saltire Rare Malt is an independent bottler, not a distillery. It buys whisky from Scottish distilleries and bottles single casks as they are. The company is based in Falkland, Fife, a town the Cigar Malt launch coverage called the birthplace of Scotch whisky. It was founded by Keith Rennie and Nigel Heywood, friends and colleagues for three decades before they moved into whisky. The team has more than a century of combined industry experience.
The Whisky Couple
Every cask is signed off by Hans and Becky Offringa, known as The Whisky Couple, who have over 50 years of combined industry experience between them. The company says a cask will not be bottled if they reject its sample. On the arrangement, Hans Offringa said: "We've never connected our name so clearly to a specific whisky company before."
Rules the label does not break
Every Saltire bottling is at least 48.8% ABV and at least 14 years old, and each is a limited, one-of-a-kind release. At launch the founders said they held more than 250 casks bought and matured over the previous decade, with each cask yielding up to 350 bottles. Rennie framed the mission as wanting "to honour the pedigree of Scotland's liquid pride."
From Sell-Out Debut to Global Shelves
The brand's first six releases sold out. Those were a 14-year-old Aultmore, a 15-year-old Tamnavulin and a 17-year-old Glen Moray, followed by a cask-strength 14-year-old Dailuaine, a 14-year-old Ardmore and a 15-year-old Macduff. A third group, including a 17-year-old Caol Ila and a 14-year-old Benriach, followed, with prices on the early bottlings running from £79 to £105. By September 2024 the company reported more than 2,100 bottles sold after a soft launch at the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.
The bottler's products have since reached the UK, Japan, Latin America and the Netherlands, with new stockists in Belgium and Uruguay. The label has also pushed into the United States, where it launched in 2025 through the Steak House Hall of Fame network and has held guided tastings at venues in New Orleans, Houston and Dallas, with brand ambassador David McCallum leading sessions. Whether this Inchgower reaches American stockists was not stated in the sources reviewed.
Inchgower in the Independent Bottling World
Inchgower is a Speyside distillery near Buckie. For collectors who follow independent bottlers, a release like this offers a look at the distillery through one hand-picked cask. A 15-year-old at 48.8% with a clear price tag and a single-cask outturn under 300 is a clearly defined proposition for single-cask Scotch buyers.
What buyers should know
At £120, the release sits below the first Cigar Malt's £162 and above the £79 to £105 range of the early Saltire bottlings. With 298 bottles and a history of quick sell-outs for the label, availability may be limited, though no sell-out has been reported for this edition. Interested readers should check the Saltire Rare Malt website for current stock, shipping destinations and any age verification requirements.
