A couple of years ago, The Whisky Agency set up a kind of Taiwanese link. Some of the releases are now exclusively available in Taiwan. You rarely hear of these bottlings over here in Europe, so we’re pleased to try a couple of them.
Let’s start with the nicest label, designed by two artists who also signed each bottle and the accompanying wooden box. This Clynelish 1996 is nicknamed ‘Eagles want to fly’. From what I’ve heard, it is a commemorative bottling for some kind of bird research programme. I hope Google Translate didn’t let me down here.
Clynelish 18 yo 1996 (50,4%, The Whisky Agency 2014, refill hogshead, 304 btl., Taiwan)
Clynelish 18 yo 1996 (50,4%, The Whisky Agency 2014, refill hogshead, 304 btl., Taiwan)Nose: a lot of candy sugar and barley sugar at first, alongside some sappy notes (pine) and typical wax. Quite some mint, moving towards medicinal / coastal notes like iodine. Grassy notes. Fragrant lemon. Very clean and enjoyable.
Mouth: classic. Citrus fruits (both juices and skins), just enough before it moves to chalky notes, waxes and a grapefruit zestiness with gentle bitter touches. Also a faint earthiness, as well as a hint of salty liquorice.
Finish: long, coastal and earthy, almost an impression of peat (although I doubt it is really peated).
In general I like my Clynelish rounded and waxy, but in this case the earthy, coastal and almost peaty profile is also a nice surprise.
Score: 90/100