Clynelish 12 Years Old Ainslie & Heilbron (G&M)

A 12 year old Clynelish from the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, bottled at 57%. Clynelish, on the Sutherland coast, makes one of the most distinctive textures in Scotch, its famous wax. The distillery was built in 1967 next to the original Clynelish of 1819, which was renamed Brora and later closed.

The spirit was distilled from unpeated malt in the distillery's tall stills, building the cult Clynelish waxiness. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the soft oak letting the waxy citrus lead. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the wax, lemon deepening to candied orange. The clean, oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and honey over the wax. Two old Brora warehouses still stand on the site, a link to its silent neighbour. Clynelish is unpeated, its character built on texture, citrus and coast rather than smoke. Clynelish sits on the North Sea coast at Brora, in the far north east of the Highlands.

At a natural 57% it is full and oily. Candle wax, lemon and a coastal salt, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The mouthfeel is oily, the citrus carried on a waxy body. The finish is deep, waxy and maritime. This is a coastal Highland single malt of rare texture.