Clynelish 20 Year (1983) Murray McDavid Mission Selection Number Three

Review by: The Muskox

This whisky was one of the stars of my group’s recent tasting, matching up head-to-head against, uh, another comparable distillery.

Well-aged early-80s Clynelishes have quite a reputation, particularly among r/Scotch oldheads. This’ll be my first older whisky from these esteemed vintages.

Distillery: Clynelish.

Bottler: Murray McDavid.

Region: Highlands.

ABV: 46%.

Age: 20 years. Distilled in 1983. Bottled in 2003.

Cask type: Bourbon casks.

Price: N/A, tasting sample.

Color: Light gold. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Nose: Tropical fruit and wax. Oh, it’s waxy – dripping paraffin. Clean sweet pineapple, some starfruit, passionfruit, waxed grapefruit peels, honeydew, and a little strawberry. Rose petals and dandelion stems. My cohost at the tasting picked out some fennel here, which I think fits too. Very lightly mineral – clean spring water, sea salt, and something slightly steely. Clean linens. Honey and little toffee. The cask influence starts to come out as it rests – a little vanilla and tempura banana.

Palate: Medium texture, rather plush. Soft and gentle arrival, Waxy and green fruit. Initially sweet but starts to dry out. Develops very strongly waxy. Burning candles, buttered French bread, dripping honey, and elderflower. Mineral notes of rock salt and wet slate. Tart lime and grapefruit, with a hint of pineapple.

Finish: Medium-long, sweet-tart. Huge paraffin wax. Slightly earthy and salty. More flowers, pears, banana, honey, and elderflower. Buttered sourdough. Another hint of vanilla.

Possible SMWS bottling name: “First sunbeams on the orchard”

Conclusion: This is sort of what I expected after everything I’ve heard about these Clynelishes. It’s a very stylistic dram, and you either like the style or you don’t. I like it a lot, but I’m not completely head-over-heels for this whisky as a few at the tasting were. It’s unbelievably clean, extremely waxy, very floral, and has very good complexity. The cask is rather subtle but adds just enough of that ex-bourbon butteriness. It’s just so clean and pure. Maybe it’s because I’m typing this up on a crisp and sunny spring morning, but that “sun on cool greenery” imagery stuck with me through sipping this dram.

Part of me wishes it had that extra something-something, though – the whisky that kept popping into my head as I was tasting this was the mostly-Clynelish Compass Box 3 Year Old Deluxe. It had this same amazing cleanliness, huge wax, and mineral character, but for me was a step ahead of this Murray McDavid bottling.

Final Score: 88.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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