Clynelish 19, d.1996, Hemp Sparrow, One Ten-Thousand, Bottled by Morrison & MacKay Whisky, Hogshead No. 8804, 293 bottles, 54.3% abv.

Hemp sparrow is the Japanese name for a tile-based game more commonly known as mahjong globally. This game is primarily played in Asia and has multiple regional variants (Joyluck Club said there is Jewish mahjong?!?!), with the most basic/simplest variant being the one from Hong Kong. The HK version uses 144 tiles of multiple suits. I guess if we try to correlate it to a standard deck of cards, there would be 4 decks of 3 suits with numbers 1-9, and multiple jokers of different colors and drawings. This bottle represents the number 1 for the "ten-thousand" suit. My first taste of Hemp Sparrow.

Nose: honey and fresh fruit, dull guava, dull kiwi, yellow fruits, buttered toast.

Palate: plums and sour fruit at the front, citrusy, mid palate has some malt but sour/citrusy elements are not relenting, some wood at the end, sharp flavors.

Finish: short, a little smoke, some wood. A semi-standard finish.

Very different from the other Clynelish I've had. This one has a good body, relatively more flavors, sharp and sour, but perhaps too sharp and sour. Genuinely surprised. But I don't think I would go back for seconds, doesn't really fit me... or maybe I will.

Grade: C+

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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