Clynelish 9 Year Old 2008 The Ultimate

This is a very young Clynelish, if you ask me. Distilled in 2008 and bottled 2 years ago by Van Wees in Holland in their The Ultimate series. The barrel still yielded 235 bottles, at cask strength. Quite pale.

White fruit and candle wax! That is the nose in a nutshell. Vanilla and nougat, apples, gooseberries and a hint of coconut and pineapple. Very fruit, but clearly young. Liquorice and candied ginger.

On the palate it is less Clynelish-y (that’s not a word!) than I had hoped. It is a peppery malt on orchard fruit with a whopping ABV that makes it quite piquant, but the typical waxiness remains somewhat hidden, despite a little quinine on the palate. Citrus tries, but succeeds only partially, to get past the barley sugars.

The finish is medium long on citrus, vanilla and quinine.

Very young. The new make is detectable. Nice, but not earth shattering. Thanks for the sample, Anthony!

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