Lynch Isle 2000 NSS Cask Series 011 (North Star)

A 20 year old Clynelish from the bottler North Star Spirits, distilled in 2000, bottled at 53.3%, one of 693 bottles. Clynelish makes the celebrated waxy, oily Highland malt on the far north east coast at Brora. Its waxy character, a candle wax and beeswax texture, is prized above almost any other by blenders.

It was worked through the tall stills for a citrussy, oily spirit, giving the oily, candle wax character Clynelish is prized for. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut over the wax. Into oxidative maturity, slow air ingress builds fruity ethyl esters (orange and pineapple) over the deepening wax. The wax sits at the heart of the spirit, the cask building fruit and honey around it. It is the heart malt of Johnnie Walker Gold Label, and a sought after single malt in its own right. The clean, oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and honey over the wax.

At a hearty 53.3% it carries real weight. The famous wax over lemon and orange, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A lemon, a brine and a thick wax lift it. A long, oily finish ends on lemon and beeswax. This is the famously waxy Highland malt of Clynelish.