This whisky has been staring me in the face behind the bar at my pub for ages, and I’ve finally gone and tried it.

There’s more to this that meets the eye. The distillery that’s known today as Clynelish was built in 1967, right next door to the original Clynelish distillery which was renamed “Brora”. Bizarrely, up until the mid-70s, it was common practice for casks from both distilleries to simply be labeled as “Clynelish”. This led to a number of bottlings labeled “Clynelish” from this era actually being secret Broras.

This series of “Ainslie & Heilbron” bottlings of Clynelish by Gordon & MacPhail are known to contain some of these secret Brora casks. Usually you can pick out distinct farmy and industrial peat flavour is a dead giveaway, but some of these bottlings are even easier to source: A few have bottling dates in the mid-70s, when it was physically impossible for 12-year-old Clynelish to exists, so they must be Brora!

There’s no obvious bottling date on these, just to make things difficult. However, the embossed letters on the bottom of the bottle (“SD686”??) seem to place this in the mid-80s. Therefore, this isn’t guaranteed to be Brora, but since it comes from the cask-mix-up years, it still could be. Time to take a chance and try it. Worst case, I end up drinking high-proof 1970s Clynelish. That ain’t so bad.

Alright, I’ve already said “Clynelish” and “Brora” enough times that they don’t sound like real words anymore. Let’s get on with it.

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• 57% ABV
• Aged at least 12 years
• Bottled in the mid-1980s by Gordon & MacPhail

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Nose: …this is Clynelish. There are no peaty or industrial flavours to speak of, and only a hint of farmy earthiness. Oh well. What is here is piles of wax. Quite a thick, uh, nose-feel. Very rich and sweet. Loads floral honey. Very malty too – brioche, graham crackers, and an interesting sweet milky note – bowls of breakfast cereal. Orange zest and flowers. A little bit of hay.

Palate: Oily and thick texture. Very rich arrival, with gobs of honey and paraffin wax, as well as peach and some overripe pineapple. Develops sort of cool & floral. Tulips, hazelnuts, cocoa powder, and just a little bit of that farmy quality.

Finish: Medium. Lots of lingering wax and honey, along with yellow plums and strawberry yogurt.

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Thoughts: Well, it’s not a Brora, but it’s damn tasty! There’s no subtle elegance here. This is a big honeyed and waxy bruiser of a dram. The luscious texture, extreme richness, and classic Clynelish wax are the draws. That milky note is interesting as well. It doesn’t have the finesse of the very best Clynelish I’ve tried, but judged on its own merits (as it should be, I think) it’s delicious.

Final score: 87/100