DuckDrams

“A 21 year old Highland whisky that combines rare quality with outstanding value for under £100. This limited-edition bottling, with only 932 bottles available, is the perfect Christmas gift for whisky lovers who appreciate the finer things but don’t want to break the bank. Selected by our team for your celebrations. … Our buyers have chosen a dram they are delighted to have at their Christmas table. Matured in refill barrels, this single malt boasts a smooth, tropical profile with delicious notes of coconut, tropical fruits, and a slight waxy character that adds depth and intrigue. At 46% ABV and non-chill filtered, it delivers a full-bodied experience that’s both satisfying and complex.”

That sounds like a Clynelish! Please Santa, can I have it? And Santa (= my credit card) bestowed his Christmas blessing upon me, even though it is only October. Here’s the math. Retail price £75 (£62.5 ex-VAT) a piece; for two bottles, £16 shipping to Germany, then the €15 DHL import fee, plus €20 in VAT and alcohol tax per bottle = made for a total of €92 x 2 for the bottles and €33 in shipping and import fees. Not bad for a 21yo Clynelish. But is that what this is? And does it stack up to an official high-end Clynelish release?

“Stocking Filler” • 21yo • 46% • Royal Mile Whiskies

Scotch Single Malt • Refill wood • Natural Colour & Unchillfiltered • £75 • RMW🔗

First impressions from a full bottle

Nosing

Loads of citrus, limoncello, lime; tropical fruit. Minerally and dusty, waxy and sooty notes, with incense and vanilla. With lots of time, maybe a little stale.

Deliciousness
Fun factor

Sipping

Salty, savoury, oily, and just a little sweet. Olives come to mind, as do yellow apples, and waxy oranges. We get a sooty candle-like smokiness blooming out in the finish, along with some mildly dirty, musty, casky notes. In the late finish we are instead retaining gooseberries and vanilla.

Deliciousness
Fun factor

Comments

Rather inactive casks at work here. As such it does not really show the 21 years of age in terms of complexity, but nor does it feel young. Really nice table whisky for someone like me who’s into tropical with dirty twist.

Great Value

⭐

Clynelish • “Four Corners of Scotland” • 16yo (bott. 2021) • 49.3%

Scotch Single Malt • American Oak Hogshead • Natural Colour & Unchillfiltered • £250 online • WB🔗

Tasting notes from a 5cl sample bottle

Nosing

Initially very dusty and dunnage-y, but this fades. Lavishly fruity with tropical and orchard fruits, ginger, summer meadow, floral.

Deliciousness
Fun factor

Sipping

Salty, sweet, savoury. Fruit salad with salty pecans, orange marmalade, and some wax and a little soot at the end.

Deliciousness
Fun factor

Comments

Bedazzling, and close to my ideal Clynelish. Interesting the age is not so high, though we don’t really know the age distribution of the casks that went into this vatting.

Personal favourite

❤️

Expecting the Stocking Filler to be a 21yo Clynliesh at just £75, I had hyped myself up quite a bit for this bargain. And at first try I was really excited, because sure enough it tastes like a Clynelish, and a pretty good one. I added the “Four Corners” to the tasting as a reference point, which did support my sense that my stocking is filled with Clynelish, but it also dampened my enthusiasm for it, by reminding me there are considerably better (but way more expensive) Clynelishes out there. All in all, I’m quite happy with having bought two bottles of the RMW bottling, and I wasn’t really expecting it to perform like a €200 single cask. It’s a quaffable dram, a great table whisky, and I’ll work my way through a bottle in no time at all. My enjoyment is similar to the Sutherland 5yo — but that might just have been even a bit better.

UPDATE: Rumour has it that the Stocking Filler is actually a Teaninch!