Tag Archives: Clynelish

TBWC 10th Anniversary – The cheeky Clynelish 25 year

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At Paris Whisky Live 2022, Atom Brands VIP section had a trio of very special whiskies bottled in celebration of their 10th anniversary! Starting with the remarkable 45-year-old Blended Grain, I next moved on to this cheeky Clynelish!

Clynelish 25 year (2022) Batch #11 47.1% (TBWC 10th Anniversary)

  • Nose – Such a treat in the glass! Orchard fruits, waxy with light salted caramel. Yum!
  • Palate – Light, lovely and softly tropical, with some cheeky tang and more of that waxy element, some salt topping up the sweet
  • Finish – Fruity finish

My immediate reaction on the 1st sniff was “I’m in love!” Fully appreciating this style is right up my preferred whisky style. Summery, classic and nuanced, it was pure delight. Something worthy and special for a celebration.

What more do we know? Here is what the fab folks over at TBwC have to say:

Come on now, it’s our 10th birthday, let’s pull out all the stops! Here is a treat we’ve been nurturing in our warehouses for years, a birthday celebration-worthy 25 yo Clynelish (Cline-leash)

Clear worts and long ferments start the process, while distillation involves maximising copper conversation creating an irreplaceable spirit character for the blender. As a result, the majority of Clynelish production is used for blends, mainly Johnnie Walker Gold Label but also as a backbone in the wider range of JW as well as Buchanan’s

As for the official tasting notes? Here you go:

  • Nose –  Waxy plasticine notes immediately! Green apples and butterscotch. Salty coastal notes follow, with hints of pineapple too.
  • Palate – Exceptional! Waxy pineapples and tangerines, in brine. Tart apples and a hint of walnut oil. Very classy!

Remarkably, it is still available… if you just happen to have GBP 380 lying around for 500ml.

Their brilliant cheeky “That Boutique-y Whisky Company” 10th Anniversary special drams also included:

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LMdW Artist Series #12 – The delightful Clynelish 30+ year 47.7%

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Clynelish over 30 year (1990/2022) Ex Bourbon Cask No 3477 47.7% (LMdW Artist Collection #12) 137 Bottles. Highlands. Eur 350

  • Nose – Citrus perfume, then orchard fruits of pear, lightly waxy, sweet vanilla, delicate and nuanced
  • Palate – Lovely with a surprising depth, delicious and beautiful
  • Finish – Clean and fruity

An enchanting dram, classically styled. Perfection!

What more do the folks at LMdW have to say (courtesy of how Google translated)?

  • Appearance : Deep gold.
  • Nose : Fine. Magnificently herbaceous (hay, cut) and fruity (pineapple, banana), the first nose opens quickly with notes of wax that instantly plunge into the “Clynelish” universe. Allowed to breathe, new fruits (pear, apple) appear as well as particularly subtle aromas of vanilla and green liquorice. Increasingly creamy (semolina, rice pudding), the aromatic palette is also peppery, saline almost medicinal (balm, camphor) and lemony.
  • Palate : Dense, balanced. Overflowing with naturalness, with its malty and lemony flavors, the attack on the palate is intimately linked to the aromatic palette. Haughty and luminous, the mid-palate reveals extremely delicate floral notes (lily of the valley, white lilac, rose petal). Very pleasantly saline, the end of the mouth evokes a rural seaside landscape. Thus, at the bend of a bend, we can see the Clynelish and Brora distilleries.
  • Overall : Delicate, serene. Just as marvelously green and saline, the start of the finish shows a honeyed sweetness (acacia) of incredible smoothness. Exotic (coconut, pineapple) and praline, the aftertaste invites you to savor succulent courgette flower fritters. On the retro-nasal olfaction, noble spices (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg) bring a lot of energy to the finish. At once milky, fruity (banana) and rooty (gentian), the empty glass restores the ethereal character of this venerable version.

How fabulous to have a chance to try such a gem!

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London Whisky Show – Disappointing Diageo’s Den

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Once you have been to a whisky festival or two, you start to have a way of navigating their offerings…. making a good connection or two with the lads and lasses at the various booths, and then move on to give others a chance to experience, hopefully learning a thing or two along the way. At London’s The Whisky Show, we had a grand old time and thoroughly enjoyed our day! With one or two teeny tiny exceptions…

Along with our “dream dram” and meal tokens, we also had a Diageo chocolate and whisky pairing ticket too. The meal was really quite terrific for a mass event like The Whisky Show. However every time we would glance over at the Diageo area, it was so crazy crowded around the bar, that we would skip over and continue to other options.

As the afternoon waned, we decided better go before it was too late! At first, it was nearly impossible to get anyone’s attention and when we finally did, enquiring about the pairing, were informed they ran out. He clearly was overwhelmed and not interested in offering anything or having a chat…

However, we persisted and spotted the Clynelish Cask Strength 54.9% was handy. So insisted on a small pour. This wasn’t our 1st Clynelish and found it was fruity and floral as expected.

We thought to try something more but, frankly, gave up. We enjoy the conversations, learning something new, however, for us at least, this clearly wasn’t going to happen at the Diageo den.

So yes, they are the biggest boys in the industry and I’m quite sure they had an impressive array of whiskies available at The Whisky Show – estimated to be above 75 – however we clearly were not pushy enough or important enough to get much ‘love’ from their side. Oh well… you win some and you miss some!

Lucky for us, we had some absolutely STELLAR drams at Gordon & Macphail, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, the TWE festival area and so much more! That this wee uninspiring experience didn’t deter us from a marvelous mostly malty day!!

As for other Clynelish tasting experiences? Read on…

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London Whisky Show – Clynelish and Imperial

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Each year, The Whisky Exchange releases special bottles just for The Whisky Show. From the 2019 releases, we tried the Speyside 45 year on a remarkable evening with Sukhinder. We were so impressed, we pooled together resources to purchase it as a special 60th birthday gift!

So we knew we absolutely had to stop by the special TWE The Whisky Show festival exclusive section and catch up with some familiar whisky experts from The Whisky Exchange store!

Fortunately for us, my tasting companion (featured here!) and I caught up with Duncan, who acted as our guide. By this point, we knew less would be more… already some 20+ drams into our explorations after both Gordon & Macphail and That Boutique-y Whisky Company, plus a bunch of others… so we picked just two!

Clynelish 11 year (2011/2022) 58.7% (The Whisky Show 2022)

  • Nose – Initially shy, then very waxy, light citrus, pastry, like a lemon curd tart
  • Palate – A burst of flavours, very tropical – particularly pineapple
  • Finish – Continued to have a punch, then mellowed into lingering herbal elements

What a contrast between the delicate aromas and the colourful palate. Initially came across as quite young, yet as it opened in the glass, it truly came into its own.

Imperial 26 year (1996/2022) 51.5% (The Whisky Show 2022)

  • Nose – Mmmm heavy cream, biscuits, fruity, hint of minerals?
  • Palate – Beautiful! Comforting dessert of sweet custard with fruits, yet with substance too
  • Finish – A slightly citrusy close, honey, and then closes lightly bitter

A soft classical styled Speyside… one to try while you still can. Rumour has it that Sukhinder has bought much of the remaining stock.

Now… you may wonder a bit about my pictures… so curiously dark and just a hint of the labels. That’s because we didn’t follow the instructions to “properly view” the special bottles by adjusting to different temperatures – with a nod to climate change and curiosity! You can read more here.

This pair was followed by an unexpected treat – my personal DREAM DRAM of the entire whisky festival – the remarkable and very rare Rosebank 21 year-old ‘True Love”.

PS, if you look closely, you can see the legendary malt master, David Stewart, dropping by the booth, which is just part of what to expect at such gatherings of whisky aficionados!

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Whisky Live 2018 La Maison du Whisky Exclusives – Clynelish + Glenburgie

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At Whisky Live Singapore 2018 there were many La Maison du Whisky exclusive bottles…. No surprise given who organized the event!

I tried the Clynelish and Glenburgie side-by-side in the VIP room…

The Glenburgie was selected by Florian Were for the 50th anniversary of La Maison du Whisky which was started on 20 rue d’Anjou, part of their Whisky Chronicles series.

Glenburgie (1995/2018) Cask #6542 55.6% (LMdW 20 rue d’Anjou) Limited 221 Bottles

  • Nose – Light and bright, some lovely fruits – particularly peaches and apples
  • Palate – Warm and comforting, tropical fruits and a hint of leafy tobacco
  • Finish – Beautiful and long with a lovely spice and hint of cocoa

Even though I only had a wee nip, it was utterly delightful and certainly a style I appreciate. I would have loved an opportunity to come back for more of this…

Clynelish (1997/2017) Cask #6922 55.8% (LMdW)

  • Nose – Lovely light crisp fruits like apples and pears, nicely fresh
  • Palate – The aromas follow through on the palate, dripping with honey and fruits
  • Finish – A bit of spice, more than expected given how initially delicate and light it was on the palate

Again, easy and accessible with enough character to make you pay attention. Incredibly balanced and deceptive as didn’t come across as cask strength.

What an enjoyable pair… both were simply unique bottles to sample and not available for purchase. Clocking in around 23 and 20 year for single casks at cask strength, this was clearly a case of trying  “once” not more…. however if you do come across either and enjoy lighter more nuanced styles, take advantage of the opportunity!

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East to West – Clynelish 15 year 54% (Gordon + MacPhail)

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Our journey from East to West finished in the ‘motherland’ of malt – Scotland.

However as we were sampling blind, we had no clue! We were still savouring the remarkable Puni Alba and remarking on how impressed we were with the Paul John Bold, when our host brought out a 4th whisky. Naughty man… we normally try to stick to three but… couldn’t resist!

Clynelish 15 year (2001/2016) 54% (G&MP)

Here is what we found:

  • clynelish-2001Nose – So rich! Bursting with sherry berry sweetness – such welcome aromas. Soaked rum and raisins, Christmas cake, promises body and age, slightly musty hints, more plum pudding, orange zest…
  • Palate – 1st sip? Puzzlement… while clearly high in alcohol strength, it had a very light body, bitter green wood, spicy, almost too dry, lots of HOT peppers that were a contrast with the clear sherry nose. As it opened up more, revealed chocolate and a hint of coffee beans
  • Finish – Hot chilli – the red ‘mirchi’ type
  • Water – A few drops brought out bitter gourd and the sherry sweetness became slightly bitter. Then it settled down and with a more generous dollop became a bit more balanced between the different elements

After tremendous promise on the nose, we were challenged by the palate. In part this may have been shifting from standard whisky strengths to cask strength and the sherry experimentation.The hot pepper and bitterness was such a contrast to the initial aroma which teased us into thinking we were in for a full rich traditional sherry dram.

As speculation commenced, there was a sense an effort to move in the direction of GlenDronach or Benromach yet operating with different variables – be it the new make spirit or casks.

And the reveal… Clynelish? Never would have guessed.

What a different kind of Clynelish – clearly no “micro-greens, perfume, delicate sweet spice” or “sun-dried flowers among the sand dunes.”

Which just goes to show the power of different cask maturation on a whisky – in this case Gordon & MacPhail brought together two sherry refill casks – No 307849 & 307850.

Here is what the folks over at Gordon & MacPhail have to say about this Clynelish:

WITHOUT WATER

  • Aroma – Rich Sherry aromas combine with green apple, kiwi, and orange followed by charred oak and subtle clove notes.
  • Taste – Sweet and spicy on the tongue with orange peel, green apple, and ripe banana flavours complemented by a chocolate praline edge.

WITH WATER

  • Aroma – Soft vanilla notes mingle with water melon, plum, and cherry aromas. Which combine with toasted malt and cocoa powder notes.
  • Taste – Creamy and sweet with raspberry, banana, and orange flavours enhanced by charred oak and delicate peppermint influence.

For us, sherry is always a fine finish to an evening and while this one puzzled us a bit, it brought to a close a most satisfactory evening from East to West.

Other whiskies sampled in our East to West evening included:

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East to West – Hakushu, PJ Bold, Puni Alba + Clynelish

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I love the forethought and creativity that goes into some of our whisky tasting sessions…

Our January 2017 host’s theme was a journey from East to West… following a geographic progression from Japan to India to Italy and finally Scotland.

hakushu-paul-john-puni-clynelish

It was a fabulously curated collection that shifted in styles and threw in surprises too! Each was sampled completely blind before the reveal.

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Whisky Ladies Scottish Tour – Clynelish 14 year 46%

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Next stop on our Scottish regions tour was a whisky from the Highlands…

The Highlands is the largest Scottish region, with a wide range of styles and a brilliant array of distilleries. In the East, there is Glendronach, Glenglassaugh, Glen Garioch and Ardmore. Whereas in the West, there is Oban and Ben Nevis. Smack in the Centre is Aberfeldy and Dalwhinnie. Go South to find Glengoyne, Loch Lomond, Deanston and Tullibardine. Whereas in the North, there is Glenmorangie, Dalmore and Clynelish.

Clynelish is considered a ‘coastal‘ whisky and, like many distilleries, has a past… tracing links to the old Brora distillery nearby that was initially closed, then re-opened in 1969 to 1973 to pump out peaty whiskies to cover a shortfall of Islay whiskies due to a drought, further exacerbated by the lack of whisky from Caol Ila while its distillery was being rebuilt. By 1983, production of a peated spirit was halted.

Meanwhile, just adjacent, the new Clynelish distillery had identical stills to its neighbour Brora yet focused on the lighter Clynelish style we know today, predominantly for blending.

Why intertwine the two? Practically the same location, same owner, same source for blends, both kept largely out of the single malt universe. Then in 2003, Diageo launched its classic malts selection and the Clynelish wild cat became available to the world.

Clynelish 14

And what did our Whisky Ladies find?

Clynelish 14 year 46%

  • Nose – Overripe fruit, plum, soft pears, bananas, almost a bit musty, a nutrition bar, nutty honey, chocolate fudge, then more caramel, citrus rinds
  • Palate – What a contrast! Not sweet as the nose suggested but instead hickory smoke, quite satisfying, nice round but hard to pull out anything in particular initially, then dry tobacco, a mulch of organic leaves, earthy
  • Finish – Very sweet, dry, developing longer wet sweet tobacco with a slight curl of spice

For some, they much preferred the nose to the palate. For others it was the reverse. And some were particularly happy to finally have a satisfying finish.

Overall many were pleasantly surprised to find how much they enjoyed the Clynelish which had more substance than initially expected. Still very much in the lighter vein it isn’t a complete lightweight to be immediately dismissed.

Here’s what the folks over at Clynelish have to say:

The 14 year old Clynelish single malt offers sweet floral fragrances and maritime flavours with a light, dry finish – a classic case of a coastal malt with a subtle island character.

And from the bottle, the following tasting notes:

  • Nose – The nose starts with light candle wax, with some sugar and a faint floral fragrance. Adding a little water brings this into focus, the candle wax is now richly scented as if , when strolling near the beach, you have come across sun-dried flowers among the sand dunes. 
  • Palate/Finish – On the spicy palate there’s a signature oily mustard-cress crispness, which is underscored by some maritime saltiness in the satisfying drying finish. 

Which garnered responses like:

“Not just any old flower but specifically sun-dried flowers… on the beach.. nestled amongst the sand dunes… “

“Who would put candlewax in their mouth?!”

To say we were amused is putting it mildly…

The Whisky Ladies of Mumbai’s Scottish Regional Tour continues with:

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Whisky Ladies explore Scottish regions

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The whisky map of Scotland tends to be divided into ‘regions’.

Traditionally there were four regions: Highlands, Lowlands, Islay and Campbeltown. The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) then added a 5th region of Speyside – given its prodigious production this seems more than merited!

You may also often hear of an ‘Islands’ sub-region encompassing island distilleries excluding Islay…. Whereas the SWA considers these to be part of the Highlands.

Confused yet?

Glenkinchie, Clynelish, Jura, Cardhu, Ardbeg

When our Whisky Ladies decided to go on a Scottish whisky regional tour, we had to skip Campbeltown as weren’t able to source whiskies from Glen Scotia, Glengyle, and Springbank, however we did our able best to appropriately cover the other regions… including that sneaky little not quite sure if it could be considered a region… Islands!

Whisky Ladies Regional Tour sampled:

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Highland wildcat Clynelish 14 year 46%

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After an Irish racehorse – Tyrconnell – our palates turned to the coastal highlands with the Clynelish wild cat.

As a tasting group, this was our first foray to the Clynelish distillery, near Brora, Sutherland in the Highlands. Much relied upon for blends – particularly Johnnie Walker Gold – the distillery was bought by United Distillers (aka now part of Diageo) in the mid 80s.

The official bottling of the Clynelish 14 year was only introduced in 2003 and marketed as part of Diego’s Classic Malt Selection.

And the wild cat mark? It was inspired by the Sutherland family coat of arms.

We sampled it blind before revealing the whisky.

Clynelish 14

Clynelish 14 year 46%
  • Nose – Sweet yet stronger than the Tyrconnell, bright, perfume, some sweet citrus, micro greens, tickle of pepper, orchids?
  • Taste – Delicate and sits nicely, sweet spice, subtle orange, pronounced “very nice”, as it opens, more sweet spice, a little tumeric, both capsicum and cayenne pepper
  • Finish – Sweet spice, surprisingly long
  • With water – REALLY kicks up the spice – a mini explosion, sizzler
  • Speculation – Likely from the Highlands with the sweet, light spice without any heavy peat notes
  • Overall – Easy drink when you want.
After the unveiling, we were surprised with the distiller notes on the bottle as we completely missed the smoke, though would certainly agree about the fruit!

Here’s what the Clynelish folks say:

  • Offers sweet floral fragrances and maritime flavours with a light, dry finish.

And what others say:

My final verdict? I passed over purchasing the Clynelish when trying different whiskies as was looking for a bit more substance for an upcoming tasting session. However I appreciated the opportunity to revisit it properly. Of the trio we sampled in January, this was my favourite – neat.

PS I got bragging rights for guessing the distillery, though had an advantage having briefly ‘met’ a Clynelish before!

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