A Trio of Balblair,
The Dauntless
Northern Highlander

Almost two weeks without a single post, looks like I've returned to my bad habits,  though in my defense I've been quite busy with work.
If I don't find the time to properly enjoy a dram or two and write some notes down, I'll usually just go for an easy sipper like Dalmore 12, Jura Prophecy, Glenfarclas 105 or my old and trusty companion the Lagavulin 16.

Therefore many bottles/samples remained unopened: stashed away for future enjoyment.

So I still got a few exciting posts coming up: some rare, some lost and some low profile distilleries will get their chance in the spotlight.

Though I may already have confessed my love for Balblair here before, I owe it to the good people of Balblair, who provided me with these samples for a twitter tasting, that I add my tasting notes to this blog.

Clynelish 14yo 1989/2003 Raw Cask

Vanilla Wine

Another week, another Blackadder Raw Cask, I guess? This week an old Clynelish from 1989. Thus far I've only tried the 14yo official bottling and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Clynelish, a very distinct taste. 

The Distillery

http://www.whisky-news.com/En/distilleries/Clynelish.html

Clynelish is probably one of the odd distilleries out there, while founded in 1819, the name is currently used for the new distillery that was build right next to the old one, that was renamed Brora. Interestingly enough, although the old distillery was called the Clynelish distillery for over 150 years, people still think of Clynelish as a replacement of the old "Brora" and state that Clynelish has Brora stills.

The whisky is a favorite of many blenders, thus the distillery concentrated on volume rather than developing its own expressions, so initial bottlings of the single malt are rare. Only in 2003 the standard 14yo expression became available for the wider public.

As far as lighter peated highland whiskies go, to me this is one of my favorite distilleries with a solid spot in my top 10.