Clynelish 1993 & 1996 Reviews [From Paris with Love]

Hi everyone,

I’m ashamed to say I haven’t tasted much Clynelish. I’ve still yet to taste anything from the legendary 1997 vintage. But, I’m trying to correct that and at Whisky Live Paris I had the chance to try two slightly older ones.

First up was the first whisky I’ve tasted from Silver Seal:

 

Clynelish 1993 Silver Seal 51.7%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Really interesting. Old school style, musty, oak, green apple, floral with tropical fruit hints. Mineral and chalky lemon.

Taste: Soft, sour, sugary pastry, then musty with green apple and chalky lemon. Dry oak.

Finish: Medium length. Chalky again, astringent and oaky.

At first, I thought this was fantastic. Then, after a bit of time, it unbalanced and became a little too sour, oaky and astringent.

76/100

 

Clynelish 1996 LMDW Collective 48%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Honeyed and waxy, sharp green apple, red apple. Very pleasant nose.

Taste: Soft, lovely red apple, some sour green apple, brown sugar, tea leaves, ginger.

Finish: Long length. Intense, tea leaves, chocolate and good coffee.

20yo, bottled 2017. A batch of 2 casks. This seems to be some sort of slightly cheaper extension of the Artist (say it with a French accent) range. Anyway, a lovely balance to this one.

80/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #470-#471

Whisky Network Reviews #537-#538

Network Average: 74.3

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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