Clynelish 17 Year Old 1997 Berry Bros & Rudd Cask #4051

Importer WIN – Whisky Import Netherlands under the stewardship of Marcel Bol – celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2015. To celebrate, they selected this cask of Clynelish 1997, bottled at cask strength and taken from the warehouses of Berry Brothers. I have put it H2H against cask 4050, also from BBR. This one is clearly the better one.

Wonderfully sweet and creamy on honey, white fruit and toffee candy. Loads of it! Followed by some citrus and a big waxiness. Some dried pineapple, too. Almond paste? Mild on the spices and a surprisingly salty element.

Juicy in the mouth, almost syrupy. Very sweet arrival on fruit and sweetened butter, only to become quite feisty on the spices with a salty middle. Boy, this is good. Some grapefruit enters the fray and delivers a bitter note. Layered and rich. Complex!

The finish is long on sweet notes, but mostly pepper, keeping the mouth warm for a while.

Impressive Clynelish that positions itself amongst my favorites of that particular vintage. Still available for around 140 EUR. Recommended!

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