Region : Highland
Distillery : Clynelish Distillery
Type : Single Malt
ABV : 46%
Age : 14 years
Colour: Old Gold, Amber
Nose: Light peat with spicy floral notes.
Taste: Starts very dry producing only a lightly smoked barley taste. Mellow spiced honey fills out the body with hints of cereal and fruit. A very long, complex finish that moves from honey to oak and more floral/fruit notes and hints of the sea.
The Clynelish was a real suprise for me. To tell you the truth I nearly wrote it off before I had tried it. It is not often that I come across a whiskey that I haven't at least heard of before. Hailing from the northern highlands I was expecting a tame little brother of a Glen Ord or a Dalmore whiskey. What I got instead was a tame little cousin of a Laphroaig or a Bruichladdich. The character of the coastal location really through enough to really appreciate and the peat smoke is subtle and well balanced as opposed to to big and bold like its Islay cousins.
Would be a great whiskey for transitioning a whiskey newcomer from a Glenfiddich to a Talisker, Laphroaig or even Lagavulin.
Food Match. Being quite a light whiskey you could straight away pair this up with a light chicken or fish meal and it would serve just fine. To really play on the peat and spice of this one though, I would go for something a bit gamier like wild pork or perhaps pheasant.
