This is the second 1997 Clynelish I've tried from Maltbarn - the first was very good so I was very much looking forward to this which, like that first one, is drawn from a bourbon cask.
Clynelish 1997, 17 Year Old, Maltbarn, 48.6%
Nose: It's really quite reticent at first. Eventually there's hints of butterscotch, salt and wax.
Water releases some menthol (see below), and that distinct Clynelish-y maltiness begins to emerge.
Palate: Butter-Menthol. So much Butter-Menthol. (Butter-Menthol is an Australian throat lozenge comprised primarily of sugar, sodium ascorbate and, yes, you guessed it, menthol and butter. I'm sure there are similar products around, but it's a very familiar taste to an Aussie palate - well, certainly to this one anyway.) Salt builds through the development, as do some sweeter citrus notes. Yellow fruits appear underneath that salt after some more time in the glass.
Water enhances all of the above, perhaps increasing the saltiness above all, as it works in tandem with the menthol to expand and prickle the palate.
Finish: Medium length. It finishes as it began, salty Butter-Menthols.
Water extends the finish dramatically and, as for the palate, increases the saltiness.
It may seem, from these notes, that this whisky is a little one-dimensional and lacking in complexity, but that could just be my palate fixating on the familiar at the expense of everything else. (The nose was also nearly absent at this sitting, so perhaps my senses are just a little dulled at the moment.)
Regardless, this is a deliciously lip-smacking Clynelish. So salty and buttery (and of course menthol-ly). Extremely more-ish.
