It was time to rinse out a few dozen 175ml airline-sized bottles and decant a variety of winter/spring/summer purchases plus other things under the counter for a while, for the incoming darkness and cold. And lo and behold: there were 3 Clynelish waiting for attention! And three somewhat different, but still otherworldly remarkable Clynelish they were:
Vintage Clynelish 12 single cask not-chill-filtered 43% distilled: 1982 bottled: 1995 ....clear like chenin blanc, smooth like soft kiwi & apricot & pear, long and tropical/florid (but not at all sharp or citrusy) JUST the way fruit should really taste (I don't really like fruit of the grocery store department kind--but I LOVE this!); assertive too; this is like NO other whisky (though the fruitiest Mortlachs come close)--it is a remarkable triumph of graciously arched Romanesque and mini-angelic Roccoco--uniquely enchanting and lush--a Midsummer Night's Dream whisky--not so much in a "class" of its own, as in a "world" of its own (a planet worth visiting anytime);
Hedges & Butler Clynelish 10 43% cask #005897 bottle #072 purchased at Monoprix in Lyon maybe July2003 ....more typically harvest in color it's also tighter; it even has just a hint of nail polish compared to the Vintage--it's got fruit but the fruits are congregating tightly together as if to still present themselves as 'whisky'--it even has a notch of vanilla bourbon just to make you know that whisky is a complicated end-product involving grains, germination, peating, and cask maturation--though ultimately the fruits triumph--dangling a bit tantilizingly from above, with even a little tartness--it's good, though not quite dancing in the faerie woods like the other two; compared to most whiskies on the market it is a happy joy; although in terms of lushness it doesn't compare to the other two, I would still (good word) pluck it up off the shelf anyday!
Signatory Clynelish 17 43% oakwood natural color Distilled: 11.5.83 Bottled: 2.6.2000 Casks 2683&2683 Bottle: 454 or
708 ....as pretty persuasion goes, this one knows how to tease--straw colored and lightly viscous--it has a burst of pungent varnish/fruit intensity at the start that mellows slowly toward apple/pear/nectarine prettiness; quickly it shows itself as the fine, characterful, dram that it is; one that at first hides its loveliness first in the guise of "forest" before dappling into the warmth and invitingness of tropical variety that is its nature.CONCLUSION: Clynelish is incredible stuff, because the flavors they produce, that all seem "fruity" (in the most wonderful kiwi, apricot, apple, pear sort of ways--which happen to be the fruit flavors that I actually enjoy--and which broaden across the palate in incredibly lush ways) are unlike most anything that are ever present in whisky. The other whiskies I know that have this type of flavor are Mortlach and Old Pulteney (though Mortlach has it in a smokier style and the Old Pult has it in a narrower, more winy, but still fine, style; and I once had a great Miltonduff that also seemed to have this incredible malty/fruity beauty; even an extremely fresh Royal Lochnagar has it in a big ripe style, if I do remember correctly; PLUS I think the popularity of Glenfiddich is also due to suggestions of these qualities, but Glenfiddich is scrambling hard to make people happy, in this regard). These Clynelish samplings are IMOTT (OTT: over the top) opinion like no other "whiskies" available anywhere--and are worth a try!