Whisky : Clynelish 16 Year SMWS 26.144 “Herbal Reveries”

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 54.3%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel

Age : 16 Years (Distilled 27 Feb. 2004)

Nose : Fruit, floral, and creamy malt.  Subtle waxy sweet citrus led into herbal notes, orange blossom, and hibiscus.  Malty cereal notes came through as creamed wheat and grassy wheat grass shoots.  

Palate :  Medium bodied with a crisp sweetness, waxy mouthfeel, and slight chalkiness.  Citrusy notes of oranges and tangerines popped with subtle minerals before a thicker orange marmalade settled on the palate.  The orange opened into dark bread, toasted barley, and cereal sugars while floral pink peppercorns lingering in the back.

Finish :  Lingering oranges and barley sugars.

Score : 7 

Mental Image : 6 AM Cereal and OJ

Notes : The codename on the SMWS bottle was excellent— not imaginative, but just evocative enough that you kinda had an idea of what you were getting into.  This Clynelish had tons of the typical waxy citrus fruits, a subtle herbal edge, and then a surprising amount of rich, sometimes creamy, malty notes.  The sweetness on this was crisp and bright without becoming overly saccharine and there was a lovely transition from fruits to barley sugars to spice.  I do wish this had been a bit heavier and the finish had lingered a bit longer, but this was still a wonderful dram to sip on.  This fell right into that category of delicious bath time drams— the sort of mildly complicated, but not too heavy, dram you want to sip while soaking in some suds.

Overall, this was a tasty mellow Clyenlish and with drams such as this it is easy to see why some love the distillery so much.