Single Malt
Scotland
1 Oct 1995
1 Nov 2016
11480
A particularly yummy Clynelish, aged in a refill hogshead for 21 years and independently bottled by the fantastic Douglas Laing! This was distilled in October 1995 and set aside to mature until November 2016, when it was bottled at cask strength with an outturn of only 270 bottles.
Thick barley sweetness, joined by orange oil and ground Christmas spices.
Toasted bread with a layer of honey. Cloves and dried earth. Brown sugar.
Floral, with a little bit of lemon peel coming through later on.
No one will read this since it has gone its way, but just in case. It is considerably less waxy than its siblings, but good in a different way. A simplistic overview would be a pineapple-ginger bomb, but that doesn't quite capture it all. It has a nice coastal character, and the sweetness always has a context. But it's also sharp, which works well with ginger in mind, but maybe it's a bit less round than other Clynelish. Actually, the 14 year might be more rounded, but the flavors in this cask are superior... still, room for argument. Idiosyncratic, and hence perfect for the XOP Laing range. The MoM baffles me frankly, but I understand how difficult it is to try a dram vs spend a few weeks with a bottle, as I have.
