Clynelish

An enjoyable pleasure is still a good malt whiskey. Friend Geoff for my 75th birthday gave me an unusual one of which I had never heard – Clynelish, (pronounced kline-leesh). It’s a delightful dram, fruity and slightly smoky. The location of the distillery in surprising. It’s on the east coast of northern Scotland, sixty miles north of Aberdeen, near the town of Brora and the famous Dunrobin Castle, (home of the Dukes of Sutherland) with a view of the North Sea.

Others with whom I’ve shared a tipple are also enthusiastic. Another friend Bill did some research and sent through this information. ‘The [then] Duke of Sutherland built this distillery in 1819 to provide a market for the grain grown in the area by crofters removed to the coast under the notorious Highland Clearances program, for which the Duke was held responsible. The original distillery was called Brora and was eventually taken over, closed then moved to a different site. In 1968 a new distillery was built on an adjacent site and renamed Clynelish. The single malt is bottled at 15 years.’

Cheers