You never know what you’re going to get when you’re shopping single casks. Each cask is an enigma, and sometimes you score, sometimes you are disappointed. I was browsing WhiskyBase shop when I saw this Clynelish, aged in a refill sherry butt, that looked promising, and decided to get it for a future tasting I am leading. 590 bottles were made from this Refill Butt, distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2014. For under 100 EUR it seems like a good deal.
Let’s see how this one is…
Clynelish 1996 18 yo cask 6514 [Signatory Vintage] , 56.4 % , € 88
Nose: This is really something I did not expect! We tasted a Sherry Mortlach a few minutes before we dove into this one, and this dram feels bigger and meatier than the other Mortlach. Funny yet true. It begins with dirty sherry. and I mean BIG sherry with a sulfur edge. Very nice stuff. It’s also fruity with stewed berries (as a friend note : BBQ strawberries – I kind of understand what he meant now…)
Palate: Kaboom! It just explodes with a big body and a lot of sherry and some dirty peat. It’s a biting Clynelish alright. then comes waves of fruit : Strawberries, cherries and Sherry. There’s lots of sugar and pepper ,and some wax too, more like the remains of a candle that was extinguished, with some of that smoke that is only a memory and engulfs the wax.
Finish: Long, with the fruit, sherry and the extinguished candle notes.
Conclusion:
This is a lovely Clynelish, although I must say I was not expecting that much sherry from a Refill butt. Blind I’d guess this is some sort of a Mortlach, it’s THAT meaty and pronounced. I’m kind of glad I got this one, I must say. Still available for under 90 Euro, so if you’re a fan of that profile, go for it.