Widely available

Highly-ish recommended

For the details…

Located in the northeastern coastal Highland village of Brora, Clynelish (pronounced to rhyme with “wine” and “leash”) was built by the Marquess of Stafford in 1819. He later became the Duke of Sutherland, and was instrumental in the Highland clearances, which forced tenant farmers off the land to make way for sheep, often accompanied by considerable brutality. The distillery, as was the case with some other “clearance distilleries” was built, in part, to provide employment for the Duke’s displaced tenants.

It became part of the DCL (now Diageo) portfolio in the early years of the 20th century, and in 1967, its owners built a new modern distillery onsite, mothballing the old one. Shortly after, several of DCL’s distilleries on Islay were being refurbished and DCL selected the old Clynelish to produce heavily peated malt for its blends. The new (1967) distillery got to keep the Clynelish name, while the old distillery became known as Brora. Clynelish has been in steady production since its opening, while Brora was mothballed for almost 4 decades between the early 1980s and 2021.

Clynelish was bottled as part of the Flora and Fauna range in the 1990s, and then moved into the short-lived “Hidden Malts” range, which had wider distribution. It is now one of Diageo’s mainline malt brands, although it remains less widely known than stablemates such as Lagavulin, Talisker and Oban. The whisky is famous for a waxy texture, supposedly the result of a build up in the intermediate feints receiver (part of the spirit safe); this texture isn’t equally obvious in all expressions. 

In any event, the distillery produces a tasty malt which tends toward a tropical fruit, wax and very light smoke character (although to my knowledge, the malt is unpeated), with some considerable batch variation. Although some batches are better and far more characterful than others, it is always worth trying. It also has the pleasant distinction of being the only mainline Diageo malt (outside the 8 year old and Offerman Editions from Lagavulin) that is bottled at 46% abv, although it remains somewhat unclear as to whether coloring, or worse, chill-filtration, happen.

Because the batch variation in Clynelish 14 is so noticeable, I review two distinct bottlings here, one from the mid-late aughts, and another from the late teens or very early twenties.

Clynelish 14 year old 46% abv bottled ~ late 2010s or in 2020

Nose: Tropical fruit–pineapple and perhaps guava. There’s a little bit of apple and raspberry in there, too. Damp hay that’s been out in the sun.

Body: Fullish, soft and chewy.

Palate: Green banana. Very fruity, and a little grassy. Green apple and a bit of pineapple. Caramelized sugar. A little exotic spice–mustard seed? Slight waxiness, but it’s extremely muted.

Finish: Medium, drying to dried grass and still a touch of green banana.

Score: 90/100

Who should buy it?: Anyone! It’s very good!

Overall thoughts: An excellent, well made dram that is sadly some miles off the stuff they were releasing with the same age statement earlier in the century. Still worth grabbing a bottle.

Bottling Information:

Expression: Clynelish 14 year old 46% abv

Bottler: Proprietor

Range: n/a

Bottle Code: L9185CM002 00000328

Presentation: Unspecified

Details: n/a

Price: $60-90

Availability: Wide. Most decent liquor stores stock it, and you can find it online for instance at The Whisky World, Hard to find Whisky, or Whisky Exchange.

Clynelish 14 year old 46% abv bottled ~ mid-2000s (this bottling lacked the red highlights on the label)

Nose: Spicy, peppery, hint of sweet vanilla, noticeable candle wax, a trace of brine.

Body: Oily, waxy, mouth-coating.

Palate: Savoury; rich and chewy; the candle wax (of the sort used to make homemade candles) jumps to the fore; distinctive saltiness; sardines. Sharp and peppery with an undertone of sweetness, honey; gunpowder. Complex.

Finish: Slight bitterness gives way to long, satisfying interplay of sweetness and saltiness.

Score: 95/100

Who should buy it?: Buy this, if you can find it at a halfway reasonable price!

Overall thoughts: A real stunner, and stuff like this is why Clynelish became something of a cult whisky. 

Bottling Information:

Expression: Clynelish 14 year old 46% abv

Bottler: Proprietor

Range: n/a

Bottle Code: L7106CM000 0110587

Presentation: Unspecified

Details: n/a

Price: Hard to say, but probably a little higher than the current bottling, assuming you can dig it up at an auction.

Availability: If you can find it at all, it’s going to be at auction.

Distillery Information:

Region: Highlands

Location: Brora, Northeastern Highlands

Geography: Coastal

Date Founded: 1819

Owner: Diageo

Website: https://www.malts.com/en-us/

Capacity: 4,800,000

Plant Summary: MASH TUN: Lauter; WASHBACKS: 8 wood, 2 steel; STILLS: 6; HEAT SOURCE: Steam; CONDENSER: Shell and Tube

Total expressions sampled: 2

Overall distillery score: n/a