Clynelish, located in the northern Highlands, is one of the most revered and consistent of all Scottish distilleries. The official distillery output is normally restricted to a 14 year old–one of the most reliably excellent and fairly priced distillery bottlings out there (especially if you can get it in the region of $50)–and a double matured Distiller’s Edition which sees the normal 14 year old “finished” in sherry casks. The distillery’s spirit is also the cornerstone of a number of owner Diageo’s blends, including the million-selling Johnnie Walker line. While this means that it is unlikely to ever be closed it also means that as the demand for Scotch whisky (overwhelmingly in the form of blends) grows in Asian markets and continues to outstrip supply, production of the Clynelish 14 is likely to be constrained and the price therefore susceptible to marked increases (as has already begun to happen with some of Diageo’s other premier malts). So, if you like it a lot, buy a few bottles now and put them away. For now at least, the vast number of casks of Clynelish floating out there among blenders and brokers means that high-quality independent bottlings are not hard to find.

The characteristics most associated with Clynelish’s whisky are a somewhat unique waxiness and a briny quality that may or may not have anything to do with its coastal location (probably not, but it is a romantic thought). Clynelish from ex-bourbon casks, in particular, often also display a minerally fruitiness. The whisky I am reviewing here is a quintessential example of this style. It is from a bourbon barrel that was bottled by the UK retailer, The Whisky Exchange for their Single Malts of Scotland line.

Clynelish 16, 1992 (46%, Bourbon Barrel #5871, Single Malts of Scotland; from my own bottle)

Nose: apples and pears; acidic turning briny; a faint hint of ham develops, then a little chalkiness; intensely briny with time and the fruits all but disappear.

Palate: But there they are on the palate, along with the chalk (faint); more sweetness on the palate than on the nose, but the whole is still redolent of acidic tropical fruit—in the way, for instance, that a mango can be both sweet and tart at the same time (not that this has any mango flavour). On the palate too the fruit becomes far less intense quite quickly as the whisky sits in the glass.

Finish: lingering fruit, with some spicy notes from the wood; lots of salt at the end.

Comments: If you wait too long after pouring to nose this, the fruit will be gone; or rather the fruitiness retreats to a more delicate, fruit-custardy note, with the famous Clynelish waxiness at the fore. This would likely have been a pretty explosive whisky at cask strength. As it is, I felt it did not need water (which is not always true for lower strength whiskies) and my review thus does not take into account any possible changes with water.

This is a whisky that I found pleasant yet not terribly interesting when I first opened the bottle. This opinion did not change very much as I drank it down to the halfway point in the first few months after opening the bottle. I then left it on the shelf for almost a year before returning to it, and found it far more assertive and fruity than I had before. More evidence that you cannot make up your mind about every whisky on the first or even seventh try. I put 6 ounces away in a sample bottle for future comparisons and finished the rest very quickly indeed.

Rating: 88 points.