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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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December 1, 2020 |
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I heard you complaining about the fact that I haven’t tried any Clynelishes since the month of August this year. I feel shame indeed, but we’ll remedy the situation immediately. By the way, it looks like the old Clynelish Distillery, so the new Brora, is already operable, they just aren’t distilling BPS yet. Greatest of news, don’t you think! So let’s celebrate accordingly, with a good load of ‘new’ Clynelish, selected more or less at random, for more fun… |
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A Highland Distillery 10 yo 2010/2020 (58.4%, Watt Whisky, 280 bottles) 
Naturally, no one will tell anyone about what’s actually in this bottle. These secret malt whiskies are really getting boring, but on the other hand, better secret and good than disclosed and bad, as James Bond would have said. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: whelks and seaweed smoke (beach) over paraffin, olive oil and the most acidic green pears that ever existed. Wonderful Sancerre-y tension. With water: the louder wax and paraffin really gives it away. Mouth (neat): when youth is an asset. Extremely tense once again, punchy, lemony and chalky, with some olive brine, those green pears and some green apples too, then an unexpected slightly Laphroaiggy development, leading us towards cough syrup and, perhaps, Jamaican high-ester rum. It’s a brilliant drop, just wondering if the cask hadn’t sheltered some other very characterful spirit before. We’ll never know, I suppose… With water: when citrons and grapefruits are chiming in while the waxiness got even bigger, doubts dissipate. Finish: long, tense and tight, really all on wax, seawater, lime juice and chalk. Some coastal smoke too. Unbeatable. Fat green olives in the aftertaste. Comments: totally on the Axis of Good that runs from HP to Springbank via Clynelish and Ben Nevis. No, that’s all very personal.
SGP:462 - 90 points. |
What would be good now would be to have a proper Clynelish 2010 and check if what I’ve written wasn’t just twaddle… |
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Clynelish 10 yo 2010/2020 (55.3%, The Single Malts of Scotland for LMDW, bourbon barrel, cask #700045, 238 bottles) 
Colour: full gold. Nose: well, it’s to be wondered if they haven’t been smoking some of their batches in 2010, as I’m finding this pretty peaty and, once again, medicinal. Or was that the cask? I doubt it, rather feels first fil. Some big fermentary aromas, dough, leaven, mash, green barley, ale… This is very intriguing. With water: farmyard, cow dung, hay, grist… Really? Mouth (neat): ah yes, here we are, with loud grapefruits and waxes, but once again the peat is very obvious. Almost Caol-Ila obvious, to give you an idea. With water: some parts go well with Clynelish (citron skin, paraffin) but others are a little off the marks (burnt hessian, peat). This one’s very mysterious… Finish: long, medicinal, waxy, with a little tobacco. Comments: something may have been mislabelled here, a barrel, a file, a label… Or did some Ardbeg-Serendipity-like event occur? (Did anyone buy that story at that time?) Now it’s a very excellent drop, for sure, it’s just not very Clynelish.
SGP:455 - 86 points. |
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We could try another similar vintage… |
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Clynelish 8 yo 2011/2020 (58%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, 26-145, 2nd fill barrel, ‘Mood-lifting sanctuary’, 239 barrels) 
Eight years in second-fill, that’s really young, even for Clynelish. Colour: white wine. Nose: indeed, some notes of UHU glue and acetone remain, model glue (that’s not silicone), fresh almonds, fresh paint, then indeed candlewax, paraffin, plum eau-de-vie, and only touches of vanilla. Water is necessary. With water: pulls the pears out. Kirsch, williams pears, lamp oil, graphite oil… And a pack of jellybeans. Mouth (neat): it is, indeed, eau-de-vie de barley, with some rough doughs, ethanol, kirsch, varnish, lemon oil, gin… With water: more Clynelishness, with a little salt and more citrus coming out. Very good now. Finish: pretty long, bonbony and waxy, still a bit of a baby Clynelish, in my opinion. Comments: I prefer them with a few more years, or perhaps a little more cask action (yes, Serge at the keyboard) but on the other hand, it’s a good opportunity to try a great malt whisky in the making.
SGP:541 - 84 points. |
Oh while we’re at it (S., please go down the vintages after you’ve tried this one!) |
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Clynelish 9 yo 2011/2020 (60.1%, Single Cask Nation, refill bourbon, cask #800315, 244 bottles) 
A brand new one by our relieved friends over there in America. Colour: straw. Nose: it’s amusing that this one would be more mature after just a few extra-months. I suppose the cask was more active too. In short, no more jelly babies and Haribo’s best and rather a little less glue and varnish, while more citron liqueur and just beeswax are joining in. Cherry liqueur and almonds too. A little hot at 60% vol., though, so as usual… With water: immaculate young Clynelish. Sea air, wax, limoncello, a few amaretti. Mouth (neat): way too strong, naturally, but it seems that everything’s well in place, rather ready to rock and roll… With water: indeed. Pure young modern Clynelish, rather tart, citrusy (tangerines), zesty, with the tiniest drop of lavender oil. Finish: rather long, saltier again, with a prolonged waxiness. Some olive brine and perhaps a little charcoal and a few pencil shavings in the aftertaste. I suppose we’ll soon rather mention iPad shavings, ha. Comments: but what a distillate! By the way, does Joe Biden enjoy whisky?
SGP:552 - 88 points. |
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Secret Highland 2010/2020 (53.3%, Les Grands Alambics, birds, bourbon barrel)
I suppose this one did stem from the same Distillery… By the way, it’s amazing how many indie bottlers were influenced by Moon Import’s labels. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: yes, paraffin, lamp oil, perhaps even a little rubber this time, charcoal, a little bacon… Also dough, grist, fresh bread, new Wellies, green smoke (pine wood)… Even a touch of lapsang souchong mind you. With water: oh, new wool and old Harris tweed, paraffin, Barbour. Mouth (neat): didn’t we say we’d rather start to tackle older vintages? But this is brilliant, pretty much in the style of the Watt Whisky, with this funny Jamaican side. Must be the olives. Otherwise lemons, chalk, wax. Just perfect. With water: gets very oily once reduced, that’s typically Clynelish. Lemons, citrons and brine too. Finish: rather long, salty, waxy… With this feeling of having a margarita in your glass, which can be pretty Clynelish too, provided it was top-notch tequila. Comments: forget about that tequila thing. Great young Clynelish, state of the art, to be cellared until around the year 2040. Oh just put them with the Montrachets.
SGP:562 - 90 points. |
We said down the vintages… |
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Distilled in Sutherland 20 yo 2000/2020 (53.2%, Thompson Bros for MPC Lab Taiwan, 309 bottles)
Those cats on the label are leaving no doubt… this should be rather wily whisky! Oh and is a 2000 really 20 years old now? Isn't time flying faster and faster? s! Colour: hay. Nose: my, those camphory, slightly acetic, and rather umami-y batches! Many soups and bouillons, waxes of course, tobaccos, new rubber bands (or those Wellies), bicycle inner tube, old books, ink, patchouli… Well, twenty’s such a perfect age, even if this is no typical Clynelish. With water: wool, plasticine, porridge, grapefruit juice and grist. Totally different now. Mouth (neat): super-good, spicy, on breads and tapioca, nutmeg, white pepper… This one’s been ‘moved’. Caraway, olives, tapenade, rum… Indeed very good, just a bit un-Clynelish, but after all, nowhere does it say this is Clynelish, so why am I (kind of) complaining? With water: gets very salty, on breads, olive bread, anchovies… Finish: long, saltier yet. Olives and their brine, which we’d just kill for. Comments: granted, this is not a textbook Clynelish at all, and there are more olives than waxes, but I like it. And it’s not only rock and roll (lame at best, S.)
SGP:362 - 89 points. |
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Clynelish 22 yo ‘Marriage’ (55.4%, The Single Malts of Scotland, 2020) 
A hogshead and a butt married together. Hey, did we ever see some whisky casks divorce? Imagine Ardbeg telling Auchentoshan, ‘that’s it, I’m bored, I leave, you may keep the wood!’ Anyway, should be mid-to-late 1990s Clynelish, so we remain confident… Colour: gold. Nose: the paraffin and plasticine are louder in these batches, which are certainly much waxier than their younger siblings. New magazines, apple peelings, pinesap, fir resins, propolis (huge), walnuts… Well it’s not a very glam Clynelish this far, but there might be echoes of ‘old’ Clynelish, so let us remain alert and awake... With water: Old Clynelish! I’m mean, the Cadenhead branch! Iron and walnuts, wax, soy sauce, dried kelp and so on. Mouth (neat): a blend of old liqueurs and cordials, a feeling that’s not uncommon with some Clynelishes. Benedictine, Fernet-Branca, Jäger, Cointreau, natural tar liqueur (the name escapes me)… Oh and limoncello, naturally. With water: oh! Fantastic! Please call the Anti-Maltoporn Brigade, will you! Finish: sadly. Comments: I’m not a huge fan of sherried Clynelish, but I have to say this well-balanced - although characterful - marriage makes greatest use of such casks. Actually they have, indeed, replicated Old Clynelish, perhaps unwillingly (but I doubt it). We should do medals at WF, while we always said we’d never do that. Good, drum rolls please, WF’s Stuffy Virtual Gold goes to… this stunning baby! BTW, that’ll be £3,500.00. Okay, a glass of Pol Roger next time.
SGP:462 - 92 points. |
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Gee, where do we go now?... |
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Clynelish 25 yo 1993/2019 (54.3%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice, refill American hogshead, batch #19/079, 220 bottles)
I suppose that would be refill American oak hogshead. Colour: gold. Nose: gee indeed. Sublime oils and waxes, breads, cakes, honeys, cactus, dried flowers, herbal teas… It is all oh so subtle, and yet tight and coherent… This is why I believe Clynelish is one of the very few first grands crus of Scotch. With water: church candles and temple incense, this is genuine oecumenical whisky! Mouth (neat): sublime indeed. Extremely dense, fat and oily, and yet kind of aerial, with many olives, medicinal touches, and just a drop of grenadine, that could be its only faux-pas. Water will tell… With water: not too sure, some sweetish touches of grenadine, or poppy syrup, do remain there. They’re lovely indeed, but perhaps a tad irrelevant in this context. Starting to split hairs at WF Towers, which means that this little session ought to come to an end soon. No, believe me. Finish: long, waxy, doughy, but the grenadine is still there. Stephen King could have written a novel about this one. Comments: a rather gentler style of Clynelish, but it’s always very tough to come after a glory such as Elixirs ‘marriage’, even if we always keep all the glasses on the table.
SGP:552 - 89 points. |
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Clynelish 21 yo 1979/2000 (62.3%, The Bottlers, refill sherry hogshead, cask #8333) 
Remember Raeburn’s The Bottlers used to reign supreme on top of our rankings, as far as indie bottlers were concerned. The fact that they became virtually unactive quite a while back was one of this world’s main scandals, together with Zappa dropping Ponty and Aston-Martin going for AMG engines. Yep. Now remember, the late 1970s were absolutely not Clynelish’s best vintages, by far. Colour: gold. Nose: burnt Brussels sprouts and black cigars (those Toscani we sometimes mention), then soy sauce, old copper coins, oloroso, bitter chocolate, walnut wine and Bovril. We’ll keep this short because of the high strength. With water: thin mints, amontillado, mocha, carbon paper, oxtail soup, fumes… Sounds great but I would say it somewhat lacks focus. Typical late 1970s ‘lish. Mouth (neat): very strong and a tad uncertain. High-peppered marmalade, raw chocolate, silver, mint and black tea… This is certainly not an easy drop – oh and 62.3% vol. With water: not easy indeed, even at +/-45% vol. Leathery, with some chocolate and Thai beef soup, old walnuts, Maggi, glutamate, pepper, potash salt, ink… Finish: long, salty, a little leathery. More glutamate, readymade Chinese soups, raw fair-trade chocolate (I’m joking, fair-trade shouldn’t impact the taste…) I just hope that given Brexit, we’ll never see fair-trade Scotch whisky coming to our shores! I AM joking. Comments: let’s remain honest, these batches have never been high-hitters. Even when seen from 2020. But his one sure is one the best, if you ask me.
SGP:462 - 87 points. |
A very last one would be in order, but let’s make it one of the rarest 1972s! |
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Clynelish 22 yo 1972/1995 (58.64%, OB, Rare Malts, USA, 750ml)
We had this one via Skype with a bunch of lovely young friends from Canton (China, not Ohio) the other day. Time to have it in a quieter, albeit less friendly environment… Colour: pale gold. Nose: of course. Clynelish was a very young distillery when this was produced, as it wasn’t even five, and yet they had managed to hit immaculate and definitive glory. Well, I agree that’s just a personal opinion. We’ll simply mention ‘a beehive’, some citron marmalade, and a great old Graves blanc from a super vintage. Ite missa est. With water: very impressionistic. Or rather pointillistic. Myriads of tiny aromas everywhere, and yet a feeling of a massive, almost monolithic whole. Beeswax, this is pure beeswax. Mouth (neat): one of these things that leave you speechless. Mouton 2000, Robuchon’s purée, a Bugatti Atalante, Coltrane’s My Favourite Things, Donald Trump`s concession speech, the last scene of The Queen’s Gambit, or indeed this Clynelish Rare Malts (find the odd-one-out). Pure ambrosia, or the most stunning mead ever produced by gods. It’s all about waxes and honeys, you know. With water: impressive. Citrus, herbs, honeys, waxes, flowers… And strictly all subcategories. This session is way too long already, otherwise I would have started to list a few… Finish: long and always on this utterly perfect balance between anything made by bees and some glorious old white wines. Comments: some say these Clynelishes were a little cerebral. I would disagree, although I'm sure they do improve the neurotransmitters in your brain - but don't quote me.
SGP:551 - 94 points. |
(Danke Schoen Gene, KC, Pierre-Alexandre, Tim and other friends) |
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