Clynelish 14 Year Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 

What a great review Erik. Your story telling is so natural and personal.

Hi Erik, couple of points. First of all: try and find a well-aged IB bottling of Clynelish, e.g. Signatory (preferably from their Cask Strength collection). That will rock your world! Secondly: older OB’s are far more waxy than newer versions. Finally: I had the pleasure of visiting Clynelish last year. During the tour they actually tell you that for a certain period, using a different cleaning routine for the stills, they lost the waxiness. They were not specific about reinstalling the routine and regaining the waxiness, but it was sort of implied. I guess we will see Clynelish 14 without the waxiness for some more time now, and then we will get back to the familiar old style. Clynelish 14 old style for me is an 87/88, whereas non-waxy Clynelish 14 does not go beyond 85/86. I think Clynelish 14 is always chillfiltered, as that is just the Diageo way of doing things. Oh, and I had the pleasure of once having the chance to sample Brora 2004 ‘3rd Release’. Best whisky I ever tasted at 95 points. Slainthe!

This is one of my favorites. So approachable and I find there is just a bit of bitterness to offset all the sweetness. Love the gentle smoke. Very bang on score

Great to see you again Erik. Your background shelfs are looking great me boy.

Great channel Erik. I got a bottle of Clynelish 14 in late 2021. It indeed was deliciously oily/waxy and I finished it quite promptly. The second bottle I got about early 2023 wasn't like that and so far I hadn't drank it as readily as before.

First couple pours I wasn’t overly impressed with the standard Clyn 14, I’m glad I gave it a little time and came back to it. Opened up beautifully! I can clearly see it’s influences in some Compass Box releases, which I’m a HUGE fan of.

I'm not heavily into smoky whisky yet, but I really love this one and it is a constant in my small collection. Sometimes I pick up the subtle smoke and other times I don't. Either way it is always a highly pleasing dram for me. I can only dream about even how much better it could be if there was no chill filtering.

I finished off my bottle of Clynelish 14 last year and put it on the 'reorder' list. It still hasn't made it back into the rotation, but the rotation has grown considerably since. Now, it has Old Pulteney, Deanston, Arran, and anConc to contend with.

Thanks for this one Erik, this has been on my radar for years, but I've gone some where else lol, this time it will be in the collection soon.

Agree with you 100%, I’ve never picked up a waxiness, even in older bottling

I thought to myself its world whisky day here in Australia so ill pour something nice with some honey and a touch of smoke and I've argued with people about the smoke in this drop but its there and its makes the dram really well rounded and a pleasure to sip on for awhile....Cheers mate

The smoke is so subtle and helps to hold that whisky in your mouth for a while. Clyn 14 is a great bang for the buck original bottling at around €45. The only Diageo I buy now. Just waiting for the price to increase like all the others...

Nice one Erik! I like the Clynelish 14 and I had some absolute bangers in IBs especially Signatory Vintage Cask Strength ones and also SMWS ones. In Turkiye by law just like in Germany they have to put if there's any colour added or not and I can't see any sign saying that it's coloured. I have two bottles, from 2020 and 2021 and both seem to be natural colour. I think I heard from a podcast that they barrier filter rather than chill filter but not sure. Cheers!

love this distillery. wish I could try some Brora one day. In fact, my favorite scotches of all time are some of the independent bottlings of Clynelish. (SV, SMWS esp.) Bummed to hear about the possible chill filtering and will have to crack my new official bottle of 14 to see if the waxiness is lost.

Very similar score to my own (3.8/5 which is more or less 88/100). I felt that I got elements of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter on this one and a decent amount of complexity with black tea on the finish.

These videos are so helpful

I find Clynelish 14 very reminiscent of Bunnahabhain 12. Love them both.

Hi Erik I’ve had dozens and dozens of bottles of Clyn 14 going back 20 years , it’s a staple in my cabinet . I can’t answer your None chilled / No colour question , but it does quite a bit suffer from batch variation , I’ve had a spell of a year or so where I stopped buying it , it went too thin and as you say ..lost a little texture . I have to say I’m back on it 🤣, I still love it , when I can’t think what to reach for ..I Reach for Clyn 14 Great channel ..Thank you 👍

Like the flavor and the wax - waxy feel. Is it non chilled filtered?

Clynelish 14 was waxy and much better back in 2015-2016 whan I first tried it... What bottles of Clynelish 14 that I could get in the last four or five years didn't have that waxy quality, and as a result, are nowhere near as satisfying or high in quality as earlier batches. If the difference is thanks to chill filtration being added to the mix, I'm not in favor of chill filtration... I will conclude in saying that Clynelish 14 is inferior to what it once was. What do you expect from Diageo?

For me has similarities to Craigallachie 13 and even some to Bruichladdich Classic Laddie for some reason. Clynelish is a bit more waxy though.

I have a IB from clynelish its more wax

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