It's been a hot minute before you met up with Singapore's Animal Spirits - well almost precisely a year in fact! 

Last time, we got to try their 4th Anniversary bottlings - a 10 Year Old Staoisha 2013, a 27 Year Old Burnside 1996 and a 25 Year Old Ardmore 1998 - very beautifully titled Essence of the Sun. And this time we're back with another very well aged Clynelish - this one's 31 Years Old, distilled in 1993, and was bottled for Animal Spirits by Scottish independent bottlers Carn Mor (which belongs to Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers, from one of the oldest of Scotland's whisky families)!

As the good folks at Animal Spirits told us, they were approached with the opportunity to bottle this Clynelish and having tasted it, thought it a good idea - well, let's be realistic, was a 31 Year Old Clynelish ever going to warrant not taking up that offer?

Now, the whisky (and spirits) scene in general has been in somewhat of a tough spot - that's no secret, even if it is a shame given how vibrant we saw it grow to become just a few years back - but I do believe that if there ever was a time to enter the whisky scene, it would be now. More than ever, consumers, bottlers, retailers and importers/distributors have the pick of the litter, working off the most expressive and developed a whisky world than we've ever known - there's more consumer knowledge and more high quality distilleries around the world than has ever been in human history! I remember vividly how just a couple of years back, it was the lament of the town that good whiskies were not only getting really expensive, but were also gone before you could even click a button and pick up one bottle out of an outturn of 10,000 bottles released! Today, the script has flipped.

Moving forward, it seems to be that a great reset is afoot, where everyone along the chain has the chance - happening right now! - to ready themselves for when the wave picks back up. One thing is for certain, the love for great drinks is going nowhere, and when the flood gates open once again, there will be winners, and they will be determined by what they've gotten up to right now. The tides are changing and we must adapt, playing the game the same way it's always been played probably won't work out quite so well.

And so, if you're a collector, this is your time to build up that collection; if you're from the trade, it's the perfect time to start looking for distilleries to work with, or pick up that cask that has gone unnoticed - whatever it is, I think there's an even more vibrant future that lays ahead of us (there's always been; it's a cycle!), and whilst we wait eagerly for the sun to return, it's now the time to put in the toil!

And to that end, there are few folks that I can think of who've consistently done the work and will continue to do so than Animal Spirits!

Let's get into it!

Whisky Review: Carn Mor & Animal Spirits' 1993 Clynelish 31 Year Old, 52.1% ABV

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Gold

Aroma: Rich and really generous with immediately noticeable maturity and the character of a dense fruit basket carried by a fresh herbal lift. Opens with a soft creaminess with honey and caramel and then faintly dusty, earthy undertones, a trace of rancio, vellichor-like mustiness of antique drawers and a new leather note. Slightly savoury, fermenty edge follows and a touch of brazil nuts. As it opens, it starts to feel more aromatic and tea-like, chrysanthemum tea and orange blossoms and then it turns noticeably chewier and more coating with thicker honeyed tones, vanilla and beeswax. Some brightness appears of orange peels while the sweetness keeps building, shifting into deeper, more juicy ripeness, fig jams, caramelised pineapple slices, nectarines and honeydew melon. Throughout all of it, there’s a persistent grassy-herbal freshness running through the centre and as it sits longer it leans more floral and faintly hoppy, like Saaz hops. A light prickle of spice sitting on the edges with cloves and black pepper. The aroma feels like a full embrace and integration of earthier antique-wood and vibrant, luscious fruit notes.

Taste: Full-bodied and mouth-filling straight opening with a lush, juicy opening that feels almost syrupy before it turns drier. We have honey, poached pear and apple juice while a firmer grip of oak spice quickly appears around the sides of the tongue and gums, tons of creamy vanilla and toasted coconut flakes build up through the mid-palate. There’s a perfumed dryness threading through it, coming from dried lavender. Underneath the fruit and sweetness, there’s a grounded, cereal-driven core that becomes clearer, giving it a slightly earthy maltiness, a grassy, herbal malt character and some cereal. Spice continues to evolve into a beautiful sandalwood and ginger character that stays dominant to the end of the sip.

Finish: It carries on for quite a long time with a drying, spiced tail with powdery dried lavender and lingering sandalwood spice. The warm, woody persistence and toasted coconut richness continues to hold on to the palate. A faint dusty antique wood impression returns along with a mild, clean citrus lift that appears very late.

My Thoughts

This is a beautifully matured Clynelish that’s very clearly shaped by long ageing in ex-bourbon wood, with a lot of definition in how the oak shows up without alongside the fruity, waxy distillate. The aroma is incredibly evocative and immediately impresses with complexity and evolution: starting creamy and honeyed, then moves into antique-drawer mustiness, leather and nuttiness and then opens out into chrysanthemum tea, orange blossom, beeswax, orange peel and finally a more caramelised set of ripe fruit notes, all while staying threaded with grassy herbs that turn slightly floral and hop-like over time.

The palate is a clear contrast that opens with orchard fruit richness and honey before giving more structured, oak-driven lane where vanilla, toasted coconut, and a cereal-and-herb maltiness sit under a dominant sandalwood tone.

I’m most impressed by how those earthier, mustier aged notes are fully integrated with the ripe luscious fruits. A highly luxurious, quintessential Clynelish.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot