I was visiting enemy territory, the Johnnie Walker store at Prince Street in Edinburgh, where the staff were giving free whisky of your choice. I have had most of them, but not this Clynelish Distiller's Edition 2020, which actually is a distillery that i haven't tasted too many expressions from. This 2020 release is bottled at 46%abv, with a 14yo age statement, matured in oloroso seco wood. On the nose, it is all about almonds. Nutty, crushed almonds, red apples and pecans. Candle wax and pears. After a couple of sips, it gave me vanilla milk formula. On the palate, it starts with a perfect mixture of red apples and pecans. Very spicy. Almonds and sider. Stewed apples. Aftertaste can only be described as "oaky" and i truly despise using that term. Dry woodiness, almonds, slight pepper. More almomds, nuttiness and pecans. Overall, this is a fairly good whisky. Nothing to special, and it feels like one more proof that most Johnnie Walker malts are average when left alone (not the case of Talisker or Lagavulin). Clynelish has never been a super whisky in my books, and this one proves mi theory once more. My score for it is 85 over 100.
About this bottle
Clynelish is a lightly peated Highland malt and a fair amount of their whisky winds up in Johnnie Walker bottlings. Their Distillers Edition version finishes the aging process in ex-Oloroso sherry butts. This whisky is not on every retail shelf, but a fine whisky merchant should be able to get their hands on it for you.
How it tastes
Measured across 14 flavor axes. Tap a note to find other bottles that lead with it.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 11 parsed reviews.
CLYENELISH 1993 17YO DISTILLERS EDI 46% - 2ND TRY- HIGH PEPPER, SWEETNESS PEAR, HONEY, FRIUTY NOTES - THERE REALLY IS QUITE A LOT OF THINGS GOING ON UNDER THE FRUITY NOTES BUT IT IS MILD DOWN BY THE PUNGENT PEPPERY BURN FROM THE SPIRIT 2.25 COMPARED TO THE NOSING, THIS IS A LOT SOFTER AND MILD PEPPER - MID PEPPER, SWEETNESS, VANILLA, OAKY, CHOCOLATE 2.5 Mild smoke, long sustained 2.5 2.25 clynelish 1993 17YO DISTILLER EDITION 46% Floral sweetness, slight heat 2.75 Spicy, Complex flavour, Big Bang zingy, oaky, nuts, citrus 2.25 Finish Long citrus finish 2.25 2.25
Bigger, waxier, beefier (in stature rather than flavour) than the usual 14. "More Clynelish than Clynelish." We all preferred even to the '88 we had straight from the cask. And that's saying something.
Appropriate for my 100th taste on Distiller and #WWD Nose: apple, pear, and baking spices. A soft sweetness Palate: more pear and apple, with some fig and raisin Finish: medium finish, oak and sherry
Faint smoke with a deep dark fruit nose. Ruby red fruits. Spice and light smoke on the palate. Smoky burn develops over time with a sweetened finish. It’s nice.
I have the un-chillfiltered Collection of this nice Whiskey. The signatory vintage from 1997 is for everyone who likes a good fruity dram
5 more reviews were collected for this bottle. The longest ones are shown first.
Tastes like this
Closest flavor profiles across the whole catalog.
