Scotch Whisky Review #307: Clynelish Reserve (Game of Thrones House Tyrell)
Distillery: Clynelish
Region: Highland
Age: NAS.
ABV: 51.2%
Price: $60
Color: 1.4, Tawny.
Nose: (according to the wife) Pears are the first note that comes out. Cinnamon sticks and a bit of lemon follow closely. Some fresh cut herbs and grass wrap things up.
Palate: At full strength, it feels quite closed off and a touch hot. The main notes are of a sugary poached pear. With water, things do open up. There’s lots and lots of lemon along with of the famed Clynelish waxiness and a bit of sugar. The package reminds me of a mix of lemon flavored Starburst and lemon drops. You get a bit of waxy lemon along with a bit of tartness before plenty of sugar. There’s a touch of honey along with a bit of poached pear dusted with cinnamon. Warm malt also comes through.
Finish: Medium in length. More of the waxy lemon candies are present along with a bit of candied ginger.
Conclusion: While the Game of Thrones craze has come and is now long gone, this Clynelish was always the one of the line that I wanted to try. Distillery bottlings of Clynelish are scarce as it is and this one was bottled at a higher than standard ABV. That few extra percentage points of alcohol seem to have given this a nice lift up from the standard 14 year bottling. While it is still very freshing, it comes packed full of a lot more flavor. The waxiness is quite evident along with some fantastic notes of lemon candies, poached pears, and candied ginger. From a value proposition, it offers a much better one than the standard 14 year as well. Overall, I’m just left wondering why the more regular Clynelish bottling couldn’t be like this one!
Final Score: 82
Scotch Whisky Review #307, Highland Review #56, Whisky Network Review #449
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.
- Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.
Scotch & Sheen 
It’s funny you just reviewed this. I was blowing off drinking this one but there is only one OB bottling that I know of (14 year) and it is usually $60-90 so I realized this release was getting harder and harder to find. Prices were going up so I grabbed one to drink about a week ago. It just seems like a good value being cask strength and all the IB bottlings are hard to get and pretty pricey. It was $65 at TotalWine and seems like a good grab. I bet they are all gone or super expensive in the next 6-12 months.
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I was amazed to find one on the shelf myself! It’s a really nice upgrade to the regular 14 year, shame Diageo doesn’t make more bottlings for Clynelish.
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