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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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May 21, 2019 |
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A day(ish) of Clynelish, part deux |
More joy, more adventures, more funny ones (hopefully), and another aperitif… |
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Clynelish 17 yo 1998/2016 (43%, Signatory Vintage, hogsheads, casks #7778+7779) 
A lovely copper tone on these bottlings; looks like our beloved distillers aren’t using copper very much anymore with their packagings, rather gold (same price at the printers.) Colour: white wine. Nose: loads of paraffin, lamp oil, sourdough, fresh concrete, damp hay, grass, ink, soot… It is bone dry so far, which we enjoy at WF Towers, naturally. Mouth: oh lovely! More salty fruits, fresh croissants, a touch of pink pepper, the obligatory wax, notes of freshly squeezed orange, a very wee bonbon, plums, a little green liquorice… All is very fine and you’ve got the feeling that at this lower strength, you could quaff double doses. Really, iut’s excellent. Finish: medium and even more perfect, totally Clynelish as we love it. Waxes, citrons, a mineral touch, and a hint of sea salt. Comments: could be that this wee baby will win BFWYB this month, we’ll see…
SGP:452 - 88 points. |
Since we’re at Signatory’s… |
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Clynelish 21 yo 1995/2017 (55.7%, Signatory Vintage, refill sherry butt, casks #11228, 625 bottles) 
In my book Clynelish and sherry do not always tango very well, but this is refill, so this should be a piece of cake. Colour: white wine. Nose: similar territories but this is even drier and more herbaceous. Nosing ink mixed with plaster, menthol and lamp oil. Lovely ;-). With water: raw wool and chalk and touches of aniseed and fennel. Even more lovely. Mouth (neat): a blade. Beeswax, lemon skin, aspirin, limestone and limoncello. Very thick mouth feel; it’s perfecto. With water: exceptional, we’re almost in Old Clynelish territories now. Sharp lemons, sucking pebbles at the beach, wool, mint cordial, wax of course, a touch of tobacco (when we used to inadvertently crunch a bit of tobacco while smoking untipped cigarettes, sometime in the 1970s – you know, Senior Service, Craven A and such. Finish: long, luminous, chalky lemony and waxy. Comments: textbook 1990s Clynelish, totally unquestionable. A milestone malt.
SGP:462 - 91 points. |
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Clynelish 22 yo 1995/2018 (56.3%, Signatory Vintage, refill butt, casks #8673, 609 bottles)
In theory… But you never know… Colour: pale gold. Nose: sherry up, liquorice up, menthol up, marmalade up, but all that in moderation. Some sour cider, some tobacco… Indeed the butt was more active, which the darker colour already suggested. But no clashes so far… With water: amazing. Gentian and verbena eaux-de-vie and liqueurs, plus some humus, mushrooms, tobacco and citrus. Oh and waxes. Mouth (neat): yeah well it is excellent, as expected. Amazing mentholy profile, rich and thick, and yet well-composed and elegant. Pastis (oui madame monsieur), liquorice, salted lime juice, a little green oak and leaves, chestnut purée, brine… With water: simply glorious. Finish: long, amazingly fresh and yet fat. Superlative lemons, minerals, and of course waxes. Comments: Springbank’s best buddy in the East. Used to be Lochside but Springbank was a little different back then. While indeed, Lochside is no more, sadly (but there’s a fairly new one, watch these little pages!).
SGP:562 - 91 points. |
Indeed we’re flying high already, but no surprise here. Perhaps another 1995?... |
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Clynelish 22 yo 1995/2018 (54.1%, Murray McDavid, Mission Gold for SCSM China, bourbon hogshead, cask #10186, 194 bottles)
Most certainly from the same parcels, so there are high hopes here. Always a joy to try all these newish bottlings for the Celestial Empire. Colour: white wine. Nose: just immaculately evident (what?) Chalk, clay, dough, fresh croissants, lemon skin, earth, seashells, gummed paper. With water: gets a tad muddier. Whiffs of miso too. Mouth (neat): so good, so good… And yet it’s a little different, a tad wackier than the others. Perhaps a little grapefruit squash or something? Canned pomegranate juice? Or are those cranberries? Other than that, some burnt bread, waxes, cinnamon bread… Well it’s the least Clynelishy of all these 1995, but it remains very good when undiluted. With water: fells back in line, but it’s still got a few unusual aspects, such as these notes of pomegranate. Banana cake too? Finish: it’s not impossible that some previous content of that hogshead imparted ‘different’ flavours, but it remains excellent. Comments: a slightly fruitier, less academic and orthodox mid-1990s Clynelish. I have nothing against that.
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
Four’s a good number with Clynelish. We may have more tomorrow… |
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