Tonight's whiskey, or whisky rather, comes from Clynelish distillery in the northern Scottish highlands and is their 14 year expression. We haven't visited this distillery, but we did drive by on our last trip to Scotland as part of the North Coast 500. Clynelish is just north of both Dunrobin Castle (which looks straight out of a Disney film) and Glenmorangie distillery, two places we did stop that day.
Apparently Brian Cox didn't do a pronunciation video here, but these two do a fine job.
Clynelish is owned and produced by Diageo, a huge beverage conglomerate that makes some of the worlds most popular drinks (Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Guinness and more) and owns a number of Scotch distilleries. Whiskey produced by a giant company like this has its advantages, as you can find this bottle easily. The downsides are apparent too, as there isn't a lot of creativity with the brand. If you really like it there's not much else to try (though the recently released Game of Thrones theme set has a new Clynelish bottle). I'm of course referring to single malt offerings. The vast majority of Clynelish whisky goes into Diageo's blended whiskies, namely Johnnie Walker.
Diageo distilleries can also be pretty boring to tour, if they even have one. Very corporate-y. As I said, we haven't been to Clynelish. But Talisker was very meh and Lagavluin was too. Caol Ila was an exception to this and a great place to visit.
Regardless of this, the Clynelish 14 year made my short list of bottles to try, because I had heard it was unique. It was also in the $60+ (now $70+) price range so when I did pick one up I didn't try it right away, as I usually limit how many bottles are open. The first time I was very unimpressed, but have liked it more since and decided to write it up.
Here's the Whisky Exchange. My notes:
Smell: Fruity (orange?), don't get much if any smoke, alcohol seems a bit unrefined
Color: Light and clear amber
Taste: Delicate, creamy, citrus, salt? wax? (something definitely unique here)
Finish: Smooth and easy, dry fruit and spice fade out fairly quickly
I really struggled with this one, with first not liking it then trying to pick out notes. It's still growing on me, even with the somewhat unappealing smell (surprising for something this age). I'll say it's a quality but overpriced dram. It also reminds me of a number of Bourbon oak Speyside whiskies with a little more complexity. The waxiness or whatever that is definitely adds something. While I probably won't buy this bottle again any time soon, I would probably pick up the GoT House Tyrell bottle if I found it for cheap (I'm convinced they overproduced these and stores will be drastically marking them down eventually).
I do also wonder, with the escalating popularity of whiskey, if some of Diageo's offerings have diminished in quality in an attempt to ramp up production. People commenting online seem to think so (not that people online have much credibility). It wouldn't surprise me. Since this is my first go, all I can do is enjoy this one for what it is. Cheers!
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