Clynelish 20 Years Old 1995 Cask #MoS 15071 (Malts of Scotland)

This Clynelish was bottled by the bottler Malts of Scotland, a 20 year old, distilled in 1995, from cask MoS 15071, bottled at 52.9%, one of 154 bottles. Clynelish, on the Sutherland coast, makes one of the most distinctive textures in Scotch, its famous wax. Its waxy character, a candle wax and beeswax texture, is prized above almost any other by blenders.

It was drawn off three wash and three spirit stills, for the famous waxy texture at its heart. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut over the wax. At oxidative maturity vanillin and lactones are fully expressed, the wax and citrus at their best. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the wax. Clynelish sits on the North Sea coast at Brora, in the far north east of the Highlands. A coastal maturation lends a faint brine to the waxy, oily spirit.

At a hearty 52.9% it carries real weight. Candle wax, tangerine and a maritime lift, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is thick and oily, the wax coating the palate. A long, oily finish ends on lemon and beeswax. This is Clynelish's oily, coastal Highland style.