Review by: Raygun

One of the current passengers on the hype train, Clynelish prices—older bottlings in particular—are getting ridiculous. I certainly wouldn’t have bought this one, except I split most of it out to friends and that helped defray the cost by quite a bit. Clynelish has an uneven track record with me, and I don’t seem to be as big a fan of it as most. That said, I’ve had some very nice older ones and this one was very well reviewed. Rested about 15 minutes.

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Distillery: Clynelish  

Bottler: Signatory Vintage  

Region/style: Highlands single malt Scotch

ABV: 54.5%. Cask strength.   

Age: 24 years. Distilled on November 21, 1995 and bottled on March 4, 2020. 

Cask type: Refill sherry butt #11229, 573 bottles.

Color: 1.8 old oak. Natural color and chill-filtered.

Price: $460

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Nose: Rich and spicy. It looked very dark for a refill butt, and it smells more like first fill, too. Figs, currants, tomato paste, oregano, mint, and some Moroccan spices. Funky, woody, and spicy.             

Palate: Dense once again. Pomegranate molasses, currants, tomato paste, ending up somewhere between an Italian ragu and Moroccan tagine. Not very meaty, but complex and spicy. Arrabiata sauce. A dash of tamarind and some orange. There’s some umami here, like Worcestershire or fish sauce. Some water dials it in nicely. 

Finish: Cherry juice, figs, currants, and more ragu/Arrabiata. A bit of curry powder, that sort of spice. Orange comes out, there’s the mint, and a little rosemary. Reminding me more of Italian food than Moroccan now, but still Mediterranean. Very drying.   

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Conclusion: Very unusual sherry cask here, almost sure to disappoint anyone looking for a conventional sherry bomb. I’d swear I had a pasta dish that tasted like this somewhere in Italy. I wasn’t very enamored at first sip, but I’ve come around with more time. I’d say it takes a little time to figure out. Once it started making sense, it turned out to be a fun, spicy number. There’s a lot going on, and it’s definitely a pour to sit and focus with. Looking back, I see I picked up a lot of similar notes from another 1995 Signatory Clynelish, down to describing it as a pasta sauce. So score one for consistency I suppose. These old Clynelishes are a terrible value proposition at this point, but not an easy profile to find.

Score: 88

Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky. (Convalmore 36)
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category. (Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1)
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram. (Ledaig 13 Amontillado)
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff. (Tomatin 18)
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting. (Glen Scotia 15)
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better. (Aultmore 12)
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink. (Glenmorangie 10)
• 50-59: Save it for mixing. (Old Pulteney 12)
• 0-49: Blech. (Muirhead’s Silver Seal 16)