Background: a miniature (5cl) bottling. One of the legendary Cadenhead’s Clynelish trio bottled in 1989 at cask strength, the most famous of which is the 1965 bottling for Sestante at 49.4% abv. A full 75cl bottle of this – documented to exist by Emmanuel Dron in his tome, Collecting Scotch Whisky – is probably even rarer than that Sestante; I could not find any photograph of it on the Internet. But what good is rare swill? Let’s get to the taste, shall we?

Nose: upfront, a wave of metals, minerals, plastics, saltiness and acidity, perfectly integrated and coherent; there is a crystalline purity to how all of this comes together; so powerful, yet so precise and clean; beyond the first wave, there are big, bright fruits; tropical ones like mango and pineapple, all underripe, followed by a plethora of citrus fruits; the honey and wax combo newer Clynelishes are known for; before long, it turns very floral, not unlike the top notes of many a gin and eau-de-vie, or a hand soap you’d want to drink; the floral soapiness segues into lactic funk; fruit yoghurt; smoked cheeses; lightly vomity; the peat shows up in the heart notes, manifesting with persistent savouriness; tobacco smoke; gasoline and rubber a la Caroni; ham and other preserved meats; grilled fish and game meats; freshly baked pottery; plastic; dried anchovies; pickled vegetables; olive brine; the base notes are foresty and saline – grass and leaf and plant sap; a concentrated brew of oolong; a nice touch of pomace brandy; a generous sprinkle of table salt.

Palate: immense minerality paired with racy acidity; an insanely steely structure; huge plastics and metals carry the rest of the flavours with aplomb; this is bigger yet lighter than the 12 year old Giaccone short cap; an almost ethereal balance and texture; a granite quarry after a shower; water from a wishing well; the insides of a hot car engine; a variety of ironworks; a cocktail of lemon juice and petrol; exhaust fumes; raw meat; fresh blood; the mid-palate kicks things up a notch with more funk, and also more sweetness; all kinds of honey and mead; beeswax; royal jelly; various hard cheeses, especially the grassy ones; salted lassi; vanilla; toffee; liquorice; bacon and sour cream; bags of nuts – cashew, walnut, almond; hints of sulphur suggest sweaty socks, rotten eggs and yes, human flatulence; dried dark fruits indicate possibly refill sherry casks; the back-palate is earthy and phenolic; tar; petrichor; mushrooms; cardboard; a hot wok being seasoned; overused frying oil; shea butter; musty room; antique furniture; wood varnish; industrial grease and spent solid fuel.

Finish: very long; chocolate; coffee grounds; salty liquorice; sarsaparilla drink; hong zao; indistinct red fruits and their conserves; dried dates and mandarin peel; bergamot oil; rice cakes; then greenness at length – grass, green vines, herbs and vegetables; the vegetables are either preserved with salt (e.g. pickled lettuce) or boiled in a soup (e.g. watercress soup); buttery pastries the likes of custard tart; incense smoke; a traditional Chinese medicine shop, with its dried herbs and teas and liniments; the aftertaste is redolent of balsamic vinegar, blackcurrant, cured meat, grilled fish fat, dairy products, clay, plastics, minerals, metals, and a great deal of sea and vegetable brine; the jamminess, the citrus peel notes and the vegetal and briny side of the finish are especially reminiscent of this Zind-Humbrecht marc.

Conclusion: a whisky that, through not exerting its weight, leaves no one unmoved. Perhaps only an old Clynelish can do this. I don’t know if I can come across a better scotch in the future, but for now, this is the king.

Score (assuming a normal distribution with mean 50): 95/100
 

Image Courtesy of u/zoorado. 

u/zoorado