A.k.a. "Creamy Coconut Lime Mojito", in the typical 'society' fashion! An 8-year old first-fill bourbon cask Clynelish that convinced me to finally join the SMWS after avoiding it for years! But how, and why?
Well, because it was essentially free! The Australian branch of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a.k.a. the SMWS or "the society", recently ran a controversial promotion which saw membership discounted from the usual $120 AUD annual fee to $99, but more importantly new members also received a free single cask bottling of cask strength single malt - specifically it was advertised as receiving a bottle of the 8-year old Clynelish that I'm reviewing here. And when I say it was a controversial promotion, I mean the promotion itself was unfortunately a complete mess. Initially advertised as spanning three days, it ended up being called to a halt after approximately three hours due to a huge amount of demand. To make matters worse - depending on your perspective perhaps - the free bottle offer was also extended to "referrals", meaning that if an existing member referred a new member to the society, both the existing member and the new member would each receive a free bottle of whisky. Not exactly a sustainable business practice, and unfortunately there was no mention of "limited to one per person" or even a simple "while stocks last" anywhere to be seen, meaning that some more enterprising members were referring handfuls of their friends to join, and receiving multiple free bottles in return. Which turned the whole thing into a complete disaster and I'm fairly certain it would've cost the Australian branch of the SMWS a massive amount of money. Or rather, it would've lost them a massive amount of money, at least in the short term. Since the demand was so much higher than they had predicted, even over the much shorter period than originally intended they did not have enough of the particular promised whisky and in many cases had to substitute this Clynelish with various other bottles. But enough said, I'm sure the people responsible would sooner forget this ever happened. Although it certainly did achieve their initial goal of getting an influx of new members into the SMWS, including yours truly!
I've reviewed a few SMWS bottlings in the past and have tasted many more, and I've also attended a couple of their events, both physical and virtual. But this is the first SMWS bottling that I've ever purchased myself (well OK, sort of purchased!), then opened, and then placed on my shelves. And being a first-fill bourbon cask Clynelish, even at such a young age, it was a reasonably safe bet. In fact I'm yet to try a Clynelish that wasn't at least enjoyable, regardless of who bottled it or at what age. Like a few of the larger Diageo distilleries like Caol Ila and... err... OK maybe just these two, "bad" bottlings of Clynelish are really quite rare, and they're both really quite reliable despite their size and their primary role of producing whisky for Diageo's blended whiskies. This Highland distillery is located near the village of Brora (yes, namesake of the legendary Brora) on the east coast of the Scottish mainland, around 1.5-hours drive north of Inverness. The current guise of Clynelish opened in 1968, but the distillery that was originally named Clynelish opened in 1819, located on the other side of the road to the current Clynelish, which was re-named as Brora in 1969 until it closed in 1983. That would've been the end of the Brora story if Diageo hadn't rebuilt and reopened it in 2021, and it'll be exciting to see what happens with it in the future. I never thought I'd be able to pop down to the shops and pick up a 12-year old Brora single malt without the help of a time machine, but now there's a very real chance that it will happen!
As Clynelish fans will know, one of the most endearing things about this distillery's single malt is the waxy character of it's fruity spirit, which is particularly present when matured in refill or ex-bourbon casks, an attribute that has been traced back to an oily residue that builds up in their feints receiver. This discovery was largely accidental though, when they cleaned out said receiver a little more thoroughly than usual and then realised that the trademark waxiness in their spirit was gone. These days the receiver is emptied prior to cleaning during the the annual 'silent season' maintenance period, and the residue is then tipped back in to the feints tank prior to production kicking off again. If you're yet to try a Clynelish I recommend starting with the 14-year old official bottling from Diageo (reviewed here), which is decently priced, seems to be rather consistent in terms of quality & character, and is the only example of Diageo's "Classic Malts" flagship bottlings that is served up at 46% ABV rather than their preferred strength of 43%.
But we're looking at a cask strength independent bottling here, and a single cask bottling no less. This 8-year old Clynelish, SMWS code 26.170 - 26 being their distillery code for Clynelish and this being the 170th cask of Clynelish that they've bottled - is named "Creamy Coconut Lime Mojito". Frankly, unlike many of the society's silly names and excessively fluffed & frilled tasting notes, this is actually rather accurate! It was distilled in October 2012 and bottled in 2021 at a natural cask strength of 61.1% ABV, and like all SMWS single malts it is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. Tasting time!
Distilled 23/10/2012, matured in single first-fill ex-bourbon cask and bottled 2021. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 245 bottles.
Colour: Medium gold.
Nose: Perfumed & floral, with sweetened double cream, loads of sharp natural/real lime cordial (e.g. Bickfords), fresh beeswax (i.e. honeycomb), pinches of drying sandalwood & nutmeg wood spices. Vanilla cheesecake slice with lattice biscuits - sweet pastry-like glazed biscuits for those playing overseas.
Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Creamy, rich & dense. Sweet, sharp citrus & drying wood spices. Touch of heat, but this is an 8-year old whisky at 61.1% after all.
Taste: Vanilla double cream again, loads of lime cordial again but a little sweeter & slightly less intense here. Beeswax again, more sweet pastry biscuits (lattice biscuits), and continental cheesecake. Sandalwood & nutmeg spice again, plus a couple of cloves.
Finish: Medium length. Astringent spirit-y heat initially, but passes into that intense sharp lime cordial with those drying wood spices underneath. More sweetened double cream, fresh beeswax and sweet glazed pastry biscuits. Floral & citrusy as it winds up.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: I would've gone with "Spiced Lime Cheesecake Slice", but I can see where they were coming from! Hopefully cheesecake slice is a thing outside of Australia so you know what I'm talking about... A nice young Clynelish here with some rather intense lime citrus notes and a nice creaminess to it, and a great mouthfeel until the slightly astringent spirit-y heat kicks in. That's partly to be expected with an 8-year old whisky at 61% ABV of course, and it's not particularly harsh or unpleasant, just a little "spiky", if that makes sense. That lime cordial note really is quite intense at times too, but I'm not talking about the modern/artificial kind that is aimed at kids and loaded with sugar, more the real/natural type with plenty of real fruit juice in it - Bickford's is the Australian brand that comes straight to mind if that helps. That lime citrus intensity is not something that I can recall finding in a Clynelish before, they tend to be more lemon-centric in my experience, and if I hand a magic wand I might have added a little more wax to this one - like many Clynelish fans, we're always in search of more wax! But that's the beauty of single cask whiskies after all, no two are ever exactly alike and they're a little unpredictable - which just adds to the fun!
As a free/bonus bottle included with SMWS membership I really have no complaints here, its a very enjoyable young Clynelish that punches above its weight. If you managed to get a bottle of this cask, then you've done well!
Cheers!
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