Scotch Whisky Review #152: Alexander Murray & Co. Clynelish 14 Year Single Cask (2004)

Distillery: Clynelish

Bottler: Alexander Murray & Co.

Region: Highland

Price: $100

Cask Type: Hogshead

Cask No.: #306815

Bottle No.: #163/276

ABV: 54.6%, Likely Cask Strength

Age: 14 Year, Distilled in 2004

Color: 0.5, Yellow Gold. Non-Chill Filtered.

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Nose: (according to the wife) It’s very light and bright. It starts off with a lot of floral notes, specifically white acacia tree flowers. That gives way to a slightly medicinal ginseng tea with lots of honey. Very refreshing.

Palate: Mouthfeel is slightly on the oily side. There are a few different honeyed tea notes in here. It starts with a light and delicate chamomile tea before giving way to an slightly earthy chrysanthemum tea. All in all, incredibly refreshing and invigorating. With some water, the famed Clynelish waxiness starts to come out and actually seemed to get waxier with each drop of water. The honey note became more pronounced and accompanying it came ginseng tea and a bit of barley tea.

Finish: Medium to short in length. It finishes dryly with a hint of honey lemon tea all that I could pick out.

Conclusion: I wish I still had a bit of the distillery bottling Clynelish 14 as I would love to be able to compare these two side by side. From memory/my notes, this bottling by Alexander Murray & Co. is an incredible improvement upon the original. The original was honeyed with some slight notes of floral tea. This one keeps in the same realm of flavors but each of them is intensified there are added layers of complexity. Perhaps some of that just come from the fact that this is bottled at a considerably higher strength, but whatever it is I absolutely love this. The tea notes are so refreshing, the honey keeps them from turning bitter without making it overly sweet, and even the slight waxiness just adds to the character. Fantastic. Would I buy another bottle? Oh yes.

Final Score: 86.

Scotch Whisky Review #152, Highland Whisky Review #35, Whisky Network Review #202

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.