Whisky Online Blog

It seems there are four old Clynelish kicking around my tasting cupboard. What a shame. This distillery evidently needs no introduction or blether from me so we’ll just dive right in if you don’t mind.

Clynelish 14yo. OB. Flora & Fauna. Rotation mid-late 1990s. 43%. 70cl. 

This bottle is actually the reason this tasting came about. It all started when a certain pair of whisky quaffers by the names of Dennis and Tobias exclaimed this to be the ‘best Clynelish you can buy’ or something like that on facetube. I swiftly disagreed and the result was they sent me a sample. With this in mind I’d like to publicly denounce all old official Laphroaigs as dusty fruit free piss water, any pre-war malts as brittle and deeply flawed and early 70s Broras and Longrows as dull and unimaginatively peated blend fodder. Just send the samples to the usual address guys…

Colour: Gold

Nose: Uber typical at first, lots of wax, hessian, shoe polish, chamomile, lilies, pollen and green fruit. It seems to combine a perfect mix of older style, early 70s era Clynelish with some of the modern day 14yo traits. Notes of old Riesling, shoe polish, beeswax, dusty mineral notes, white flowers, fresh chives, a little green tomato chutney and straw. This is really beautiful, I’m starting to feel less confident about blowing this one out of the water with the older ones. A really beautiful old style sweetness that combines elements of natural vanilla and honeycomb is balanced by some fantastically taught and drying coastal notes. Hints of sandalwood, seashore and lemon zest.

Palate: Hmmm, a little dusty on delivery, was this bottle open a long time I wonder? Improves with a few further sips and really starts to bloom with lots of fresh bread, raw sea salt, green tea, more chamomile, wood spice, touches of peat and tar with a really mouthwatering mineral sensation. Still perfectly dry with just twitches of sweetness about it now. Quite savoury and salty, like black olives on pastry. More grass, green fruit, pebbles, tinned peaches, all kinds of oils, eucalyptus sweets and cream soda.

Finish: Long, lively, warming and super fresh. The coastal aspects go into overdrive and you get this big zingy, salty, mouthwatering mineral sensation. The honey flavours come back a bit as it fades. Lovely.

Comments: Well I had thought this one would be easily defeated by the others that are to follow but now I’m not so sure. Surprisingly close to the early 70s style in many ways. Probably from those great batches distilled in the early 80s. A big thankyou to Dennis and Tobias for this one.

Score: 90/100

Speaking of which…

Clynelish 28yo. Douglas Laing OMC. 1982-2011. 238 Bottles. Refill Hogshead. 50%. 70cl.

Colour: Straw Gold

Nose: It’s quite surprising how close this is initially to the F&F bottling. Only a slightly more intense resinous quality belies its greater age. It combines those beautiful qualities of tinned tropical fruits, hessain, huge waxiness, drying coastal notes and white stone fruits that make this such a world class distillate. Further notes of damp straw, coal, creosote, motor oil, vanilla cream, black pepper and celery soup. This one is big bold and intense, it doesn’t quite share the same complexity as the F&F but it compensates with a wonderfully direct intensity of character. Goes on with notes of mint, seaweed, dried herbs and more huge seashore aromas.

Palate: Softer than expected but still a barrel of wax and oil topped up with seawater. This one becomes massively salty after a few moments, a dens saltiness, like chewing whole sea salt crystals, with lemon juice, acid drops, grass, and tobacco leaf in the background. Quite astonishingly coastal and intense this one, smoked salmon, black pepper, metallic notes, chocolate limes, chopped parsley and buttered toast. Great stuff, although you might not want to drink this if you have weak kidneys, the salt might finish you off. Good if you have a sodium deficiency though…

Finish: Bready, salty, savoury, floral, super coastal and long.

Comments: Great stuff, super classical old style Clynelish, is has everything in spades, except for salt, it has that in shovels. You need to like dry, coastal, hyper fresh and salty whiskies to enjoy this one I think. I love it.

Score: 90/100

Clynelish 1972-2010 38yo. The Whisky Agency. 138 bottles. Refill sherry hogshead. 45.8%. 70cl. 

Colour: Amber

Nose: A big explosion of lush green and tropical fruits with all kinds, honey, coastal notes, oils, waxy qualities and background cereal touches. Just gorgeous and unmistakeably early 70s Clynelish. The nose is incredibly fresh for 38 years and that balance of intense fruit and regulating coastal notes is just stunning, there is some oak in the mix but it is perfectly subdued, just soft wafts of dark chocolate and stewed fruits betray the sherry. It also reveals menthol, pipe tobacco, touches of rancio, lemon green tea and muesli. Orange liqueur, dates, bitters, caraway seeds and cornflour.

Palate: On the palate the wood is clearly a little louder but it is not overly astringent, the waxiness is still huge and the distillery character is still very much in play. Lots of resin, salt, camphor, black tea, raisins, hints of cognac, sandalwood, toasted cereals, mint and green fruits. Some really beautiful citrus as well with hits of tinned fruits, fruit syrups and more salty seashore notes. This is perilously drinkable and despite that slight woody edge is really delicious, in fact the wood works quite nicely in holding everything together and keeping the whole profile lively and focused. Another stunning old Clynelish in other words.

Finish: It’s not the longest ever but it remains all on fruit resins, wax, touches of wood, chocolate, mead, coal and mint.

Comments: I suspect most of these early 70s casks will not last too much longer before the wood starts to take over. This one was just on the cusp but it was still reliably stunning.

Score: 92/100

Clynelish 1972-2009. 36yo. G&M for LMDW. Cask 14301. 197 bottles. 59.4%. 70cl. 

Colour: Gold

Nose: This one is bigger, more austere, more mineral and more gravely at first nosing. Some clean oak, loads of tight and sharp coastal notes, wax, paraffin, resin, tons of honeycomb and pollen. We’re not really that far away again from the F&F 14yo, it’s just much bigger, more intense and more compact due to much greater age and strength. The focus of the flavour is quite impressive though. Becomes more floral with a bit of time showing notes of white flowers and dandelions. With water: now it’s just a hotbed of warm honey, green fruits and simmering spices. Green peppercorns in brine, charcoal, oysters, lemon drops and a whole coast line.

Palate: Tha alcohol is quite imposing at first sip, the austerity is still resolutely there with a big crisp saltiness, salt and vinegar crisps in fact. All the usual suspects are here, wax, lemon oil, flowers, flints, seashore, minerals and tiny flecks of peat as well. But you can feel it needs waster… with water: Wow! It opened up perfectly, a thirsty whisky if ever there was one. Bags of bay leaves, green tea, lemon skins, apple peelings, seashore, sandalwood, oysters, wild flowers, all kinds of fresh fruits, wet earth and pebbles. Just lashings of everything, a stunner.

Finish: Fantastically long and packed full of the same spellbinding complexities as the palate. Clear, direct, balanced and intense. Beautiful!

Comments: I’m sure there can’t be many more casks like this one still to be bottled. They’ll start getting harder and harder to come by soon, I suggest you taste one of these old Clynelishes before it’s too late if you haven’t already. Its a unique distillate that anyone serious about whisky should try at least once in their life. Sends all these modern malts back to school as far as I’m concerned.

Score: 93/100

ps: A vatting of all four is utterly magical!

Seeing as this series is in danger of becoming the ‘Rocky’ of whisky blog posts I think this will almost certainly be the last one. After Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Lagavulin it seems logical that we will cover Laphroaig, the final Islay southerner. So unless someone wants to send me a stash of old 73/74 Longrow or early 70s Brora samples then I don’t think we’ll see parts five or six anytime soon.

Anyway, without further prattle and ado…

Laphroaig 20yo. Douglas Laing. OMC. Sherry Hogshead. 50%. 70cl.

Had this sample kicking about for some time, sadly no image to go with it I’m afraid. I adore sherried Laphroaigs though so I’m keen to try this one.

Colour: Dark amber

Nose: A strange kind of grizzly fruitiness at first. Very Laphroaig, loads of tincture, iodine, tcp and other medicinal qualities but with a lovely metallic edge like wet iron and steel wool. Smoky bacon, dried herbs and salt, bacon crisps? Flat cola, peat, cola cubes, hot tar, rope, root beer, wet earth and hints of dark rum. Quite a superlative nose really, great distillery character but with that classic, surprisingly clean, sherry slant. Unctuous, leafy, salty and thick with big notes of liquorice, key lime pie, lemon curd, wax, hessian, flints and other assorted mineral notes. Gets quite briny with a thick and turfy peat quality with some nice dried dark fruits. Great stuff, very enjoyable.

Palate: Massive, syrupy peat on delivery with big drying sherry right behind it, reminds me a little of some old peated Glen Gariochs (high praise indeed) with more earth, dried mushrooms, tcp, mouthwash, liquorice, charcoal, barbecue sauce and some lovely green fruits. Very medicinal, lots of medical sub complexities with big herbal liqueur qualities as well. Baked apples, smoked mussels, creosote, cola syrup, tobacco and seaweed soup. A perfect balance of sweet and dry.

Finish: Lemon curd again, fresh oysters, brine, menthol toothpaste, hessian, creosote, tar, tcp, wax and fading green fruits.

Comments: I really love Laphroaig in sherry and this one doesn’t disappoint. Displays the very best attributes of the modern style and is probably helped a lot by a top notch sherry cask. Clean, vibrant, resinous and powerful. Douglas Laing seem to have a had quite a few of these fresh sherry cask Laphroaigs from the late 1980s recently. Lets hope there are still plenty to come because they’ve all been great so far.

Score: 91/100

Laphroaig 1981-2008. 27yo. OB. Five oloroso sherry casks. 736 bottles. 56.6%. 70cl. 

Huge thanks to Nick for this one.

Colour: Dark Rosewood

Nose: A different level of sherry entirely. Super thick and intense with a much more subdued level of peat. At first its all on fresh tar and concentrated aromas of charcoal, dates, prunes, figs and other dark fruits. Lots of sultanas stewed in cognac, furniture polish, salted brazil nuts, chocolate, molasses, natural caramel and hot fudge. A very rare instance where the sherry has taken over from the peat, quite a potent cask selection indeed. Definitely need time. With a bit of patience it starts to become much more tropical and accessible. There is also a much bigger coastal presence, lots of wet rocks, seaweed, beach bonfires, iodine and kipper notes. Some resin, wax and putty as well with a slowly encroaching aged peat quality in the background. Very earthy, dry, thick and syrupy. Notes of cola and gomme syrups and something like redcurrant jam. With water: a tropical fruit and nut cocktail now. Lots of soft tropical notes on top of crushed walnuts, pecans and salted almonds. Then lighter vegetal qualities, more tar, geraniums and salted dark chocolate.

Palate: Neat it is a powerhouse of a Laphroaig, orange bitters, peated marmalade (what) burnt wood, barbecue sauce, masses of molasses (ha), herb liqueur, rancio, wild mushrooms, cola cubes again, bacon, brown sauce, tar, lashings of medicine and a warehouse full of dark, fruit laden sherry. Drying and moist like swallowing a whole Guinness cake. Loads of mixed nuts, phenols, quince jelly, muesli, juniper, gentian root, root beer, coal, creosote, salt cured meats and bovril. A monster of a Laphroaig, but more so because of the sherry than the peat it has to be said. With water: ok it’s softer but it is still very drying, thick and syrupy. Lots of fat eucalyptus notes, seaweed, tar, smoked fish and black pepper. A smattering of mineral notes and then more leafy fruitiness, orange and lemon notes with bay leaves, thyme and ginseng tea.

Finish: Incredibly long, like waiting for the credits to roll on Return Of The King. You practically have to scrape your mouth clean of peated sherry afterwards. Buy a new toothbrush!

Comments: In any other whisky this level of sherry would be too much for me and I’d be tempted to mark it down but the sheer power and force of personality that Laphroaig possess seems to have held everything together brilliantly, although I doubt these casks would have made it to 30. Fantastic, a whisky for those that like them black and potent (unless you’re a Loch Dhu fan in which case you’re on the wrong blog). Anyway, a real power house dram, intense, extreme and brilliant.

Score: 94/100

Laphroaig 1964-1981. Berry Brothers & Rudd. Sherry cask. 43%. 75cl.

Sadly no picture for this one. A rightly legendary bottling from Berry Bros.

Colour: Amber/Brown

Nose: A stunning combination of resinous peat, crystalised and tropical fruits and perfect sherry. This is followed by super dense coastal notes, raisins, wet earth, coal dust, aged cognac, smoked almonds, marzipan, hints of rancio and a little aged antiseptic. Just brilliant, one of those perfect noses. Ancient dry phenols, peat, wax and little dustiness. Then fresh oysters, preserved lemons, smoked mussels, camphor, and some phenomenal vegetal and herbal notes. I could go on but I might never taste it, a staggering nose.

Palate: Enormous, fat, drying, dusty, organic peat. Completely covers and engages every part of the palate, then an avalanche of tropical fruits, an incredible delivery. Develops along more complex lines with dark brown sugar, old vanilla, honey, camphor, pine resin, huge herbaceous notes and a big growing saltiness. Notes of salted beef, sarsaparilla, gentian eau de vie, root beer, dark chocolate, seaweed and yet more drying peats. Lets stop this wonderful, wonderful madness.

Finish: Long and filled with waxy peat, herbs, vegetal, earthy and coastal qualities. Then finally a mineral and beautiful fade.

Comments: One of those bottlings that makes you remember why you’re into whisky in the first place. Massive at 43% in a way that only Laphroaig seems to be able to pull off. A masterpiece of complexity, poise, intensity, length and balance. Brilliant!

Score: 95/100

A legendary old Samaroli bottling of Laphroaig

Laphroaig 1970-1986. Duthie for Samaroli. 720 bottles. 54%. 75cl. 

No much needs saying about this legendary bottling. Eternal gratitude to Patrick for these last two drams.

Colour: Straw Gold

Nose: A mesmerising combination of seashore, coastal and fresh peat aromas. Hugely complex with lashings of citrus, oysters, salt, iodine, mint, kippers, white pepper and old rope. Develops onto tar, seaweed, coal dust and, after time, luscious notes of fresh lime juice. Then eucalyptus oils, more pristine saltiness and massive notes of brine that lend the whole nose a stunning freshness. Just incredible really. Perfectly dry and a complex with exceptionally elegant notes of minerals, smoked tea, old style peat and, eventually, fruit. The fruit is perfectly tropical but also surprisingly resinous and crystallised which lends the whole profile an extra layer of depth and complexity. With water: some super salty blue cheese, lemon juice, papaya, coal dust again, more minerals, buttered toast, herbs, shellfish and peat oils.

Palate: A tropical whirlwind. Just epic amounts of passion fruits, guavas, greengages, melons and lemons. Absolutely brilliant delivery. Further notes of fragrant smoke, black pepper, smoked cereals, tar, green peat and motor oil. Still massively coastal and balanced. With water: Not too much change, the coastal aspects got a bit bigger till they’re almost equal to the fruits. Layers and layers of complexity that I can’t even begin to get into now, salty, tropical, oily, peaty and medicinal in myriad ways, it just keeps on going…

Finish: No comment!

Comment: An utter masterpiece. This is the sort of bottle that really sets the bar for all others to be measured against. At least I think it does.

Score: 96/100

Well that ties up this little series of masterpieces quite nicely. It’s been a pretty devastating path of uninterrupted peaty beauty, one that leads only to the point where you could instantly start again or go for something new and equally mind blowing. We’re all searching for the new, the unknown bottling, all seeking the next hidden masterpiece. Sadly, as with all whiskies of this calibre, that is not always an option and one day, probably in the not too distant future, it will stop being an option for every body. These bottles wont last forever, the liquid will inevitably die, although, long before that happens, they will already be out of grasp to any buyer. When there are only three and then two bottles left of the Laphroiag 1970 or the Port Ellen 1969, what will happen then? I think distillers should be made to taste whiskies like these ones, if the people that make whisky don’t know how good it can be, if they don’t fully comprehend the organoleptic heights to which these spirits can soar then how can we ever hope to make whisky this good again. There are many who say it can’t be done but that is complete baldershit if you ask me. It is purely a recipe, a process governed by the whim of chemistry and practice. Great whiskies like these could be made again. It just needs someone with the will power to do it, the understanding of what made the greatest whiskies so great and the balls, madness and sheer bloody mindedness to do it.

Oh and money. Lots of money. Perhaps therein lies the problem. Perhaps someone should donate a sample of Ardbeg Kingsbury 67 to Bill Gates and see if he fancies taking a punt on funding a distillery…? Just an idea.

Hazelburn is a curious spirit. Produced regularly at Springbank since 1997 and triple distilled, it sounds like a recipe for grand success. But it hasn’t been, not really, not in the sense that Longrow and Springbank have both generated cult followings. The fault arguably lies in the spirit itself, none of the bottlings have so far been mind boggling, it is unpeated and triple distilled, a bad recipe for young whisky, these are aspects that cry out for age to fortify them and afford them the correct time to bloom. What strikes me most about the Hazelburns I have tried so far is the dislocation between nose and palate. Most of them perform beautifully on the nose, clearly Campbeltown in origin, coastal yet softer and more citrus in style. You can never get the peat out of stills like those at Springbank and it shows in Hazelburn, for all its claims to be unpeated and triple distilled it remains distinctly robust for a ‘lighter’ style malt. Then you take a sip and something seems to happen, all that promise seems to come undone, not drastically, they are still fine malts, its just that odd flavours usually start to appear, all too often that rotten orange peel note, the one that seems to dog Longrow on occasion, will surface.

A complete set of the first editions of Hazelburn launched back in 2005.

That said, Hazelburn is clearly good whisky. Whenever I try it all I get is the feeling that there is something special just waiting to happen inside the glass. The answer is, as we already touched on, time, pure and simple. Unlike Longrow’s ability to show so well at younger ages (as in the great CV), Hazelburn shares something of Springbank’s occasional need to get some age behind it in order to shine. I can’t imagine how there won’t be some stunning examples of Hazelburn in 10-15 years time, everything feels right, all the dominoes are in place, they just happen to still be falling that is all. So really, if there is a fault, it lies with us and not Hazelburn, we are an impatient breed we whisky nerds. The good people at Springbank clearly understand this as we have been spared a raft of pointless finishes and laughable dabblings in silly wood technology. We have been offered snapshots of an evolving spirit so far, they know full well to leave it otherwise alone and let time do the necessary graft to get it up to its full potential. I like Hazelburn and I think it is one of the properly exciting new malts of recent years, unlike so many heavily peated variants that are forever being touted as exciting, this is a genuine labour of love on Springbank’s behalf and a whisky that is evolving at a pace that suggests true rewards later on. In short: Hazelburn may smell like Diet Springbank, but it really reeks of potential.

Hazelburn 8yo. OB. ‘Cask Strength’. Bottled 2010. 56%. 70cl.

I really thought I took a picture of this one when I got the sample but evidently not according to my hard drive. Sorry.

Colour: Gold with a greenish tinge.

Nose: Dusty and green with many cereal qualities but also notes of honey, chutney(?), mead, marmalade and some very elegant coastal notes. Quite orangey and fruity despite the high alcohol and triple distillation. Given time it starts to betray its lightness with notes of honeysuckle, flowers, seabreeze, candy floss and mint. So far this is pretty delightful really, none of the awkwardness that has befallen many other Hazelburns, it speaks very clearly of Campbeltown. With water: it throws up some interesting notes of lavender and violets, ala 1980’s Bowmore, but nothing like as extreme as that. Fragrant soaps, very floral, cola cubes, cherry lips, quite confectionery really. Moves on to become more biscuity with notes of digestive, shortbread and caramel wafers, then desiccated cocoanut and Tunnock’s snowballs. (Man I could go for one of those right now!)

Palate: Gah, big alcohol. Some notes of furniture polish, wood shavings, pine air freshener and strawberry jam. Needs water… much better, settles down with some nice notes of resin, camphor, green tea, mint leaves, sawdust, a little paraffin and rosewater. Not quite as stellar as on the nose at first but still a fine dram and surprisingly mature for eight years. Develops more honey and something a little vegetal like a tequila note, Hazelburn slammers anyone? The coastal aspects become quieter with time.

Finish: Brunt toast, butter, a little bitter but with a decent length.

Comments: See all that stuff I wrote above. This one is a perfect example of that Hazelburn ‘problem’, not that it’s really a problem. I can’t wait till this is 18 years old.

Score: 80/100

Next time we’ll go back to Springbank. (Not that we really left it mind you.)