Clynelish Dun Bheagan 1990 22 year old Port Wood

A review for Dun Bheagan Clynelish 22 years old, distilled 1990 and bottled in 2013, finished in port hogsheads cask 93781/93783, 798 bottles.

Nose: a busy nose. Red berries, honey, wood, cream, a hint of citrus. A burst of polish belies its age. There is also some vanilla bean and a hint of mustard.

Palate: sweet, soft, berry arrival. Then an admixture of berries, oak, and tannic spice. Creamy and grassy with the spice eventually dominating.

Finish: very long, oaky, and sweet. Sweet berry and oak spice really linger.

Give this one time. At first it was all oak, and bitterly disappointing. My initial hunch was that they used port casks to cover up an over-oaked malt. Over time, however, the fruitiness from the port emerges and the oakiness subsides into a very pleasant balance. JM remarked that the wood was absent from this expression but I am certain that he was simply too drunk to notice because the wood is most definitely here. Very nice overall, if you don't mind a little oak.

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