Clynelish 20 yo 1997 / 2017 Spirit Shop Selection #6927 vs Clynelish 21 yo 1995 / 2017 Elixir Distillers for Scotch Malt Sales
We need more Clynelish, and other whiskies of natural character that shine so well in less obtrusive wood. This distillery is a a personal favourite for more reasons than just 1997, though perhaps not the first thing to pour for a new drinker.
Clynelish 20 yo 1997 / 2017 Spirit Shop Selection #6927 55.8%
Nose: Incredibly Clynelish. By which I mean full of cold flints, and cold wax drippings. Rubbed graphite, actually just bursting with gravel-like minerals like a great dry Riesling, the sort that magnified could be petrol in a St. Magdalene. Cold baked pears, tart stonefruit, and green kiwis. With time the waxiness opens up with a turn towards warm yellow hues of thin honey and straw. A naked distillate of exquisite character.
Palate: A big entry. Throttle down with wax, flints, searing minerals, and hot metal. An initial flaming gingery hot burst subsides into a blend of hot mentholatum, eucalyptus and chest rubs. And in a few moments the warmer hues of soothing honey, yellow pollen and dry foliage arrive to quiet things down
Finish: Long, honey, sweet chamomile, pollen plus some gravel. Magnificent but somewhat more brash on the tongue than the impeccable nose.
Clynelish 21 yo 1995 / 2017 Elixir Distillers for Scotch Malt Sales 57.9%
Nose: A slightly different take. This one keeps the buckets of wax but here the heat is turned up so it’s molten and oozing, along with bubbly honey, hot pastry, yellow peach Danish. Ripe yellow stonefruit. Pollen. Very fruity one actually. But give it a stir and a burst of hot dry minerals and sizzling menthol tinged acidity erupts to foil this warm fruitiness. There’s also something ever so slightly sooty or saline in here as well. Again a stellar distillate.
Palate: Not as aggressive as the 97 despite the higher abv, and here full warm flavours of honey, mead, beeswax, warm earth, pollen and ripe yellow fruit in the afternoon heat. Pure enjoyment. Crunchy gravel in the warm loamy soil. Hot cotton in the sun. Just a thin bed of a mineral-y heat this time, to hold up this utterly joyous palate, it’s there though, a herbaceous white heat.
Finish: Long, some salt, some flints, honey wax and yellow fruit.
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