Clynelish 17 Year Old 1997 Signatory UCF

Clynelish 1997... that in itself already sounds magical to my ears. I have been fortunate enough to have tried many Clynelish of that vintage and so far it has always been a party. The expectations for this 17 Year Old are thus quite high. It was bottled by Signatory in their well-known Un-Chillfiltered Series. Andrew vatted two hogsheads and bottled them at 46%.

Hurray! Again bull’s eye on the nose! Wonderfully fresh yet waxy nose on all kinds of fruit like melon, lime, candied pineapple, litchi and overripe apples. Lemon grass. A hint of eucalyptus. It evolves towards grapefruit with crystal sugar.

Wonderfully creamy body and quite powerful despite the modest ABV. Sweeter than the nose promised on barley sugars and honey. Citrus dominates, quite zesty, upholstered with pepper and quinine. Liquorice. Some nuts. Roasted almonds? Comes very close. Delicious.

The finish is quite long, remains peppery and bittersweet with a salty edge at the death.

At cask strength this would be do die for. Scary good Clynelish.

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