Clynelish 26 Years Old 1988 Cask #908537 (Duncan Taylor)

From the Huntly bottler Duncan Taylor, a 26 year old Clynelish, distilled in 1988, from cask 908537, bottled at 49%, one of 70 bottles. Clynelish, on the Sutherland coast, makes one of the most distinctive textures in Scotch, its famous wax. Clynelish is unpeated, its character built on texture, citrus and coast rather than smoke.

It was distilled from unpeated malt in the distillery's tall stills, for an oily, lemony make with a savoury edge. Ex-Sherry wood added a dried fruit richness to the waxy spirit. In the oxidative, evaporative years concentration brings tropical esters of mango and pineapple over a deep, beeswax richness. The wax sits at the heart of the spirit, the cask building fruit and honey around it. The lost Brora distillery beside it, closed in 1983, was revived by Diageo in 2021. Two old Brora warehouses still stand on the site, a link to its silent neighbour.

At a full 49% it is bold yet waxy. A thick wax over orchard fruit and citrus, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The texture is thick and oily, the wax coating the palate. The close is long, wax over a citrus lift. This is an oily, maritime Highland single malt.