Clynelish 1999 21 Years Old Sherry Cask 21 Years of Friendship

Billy Abbott, The Whisky Exchange

• Nose

  Maraschino cherries and dark fruit cake to start, with cherry bakewells, singed raisins, new leather and dried figs following. Oaky notes provide a backdrop: old well-polished tables, damp dark wood, and spice-forward freshly cut boards. Thick, sweet, cherry-and-berry coulis covers everything.

• Palate

  Rich, sweet, dark fruit leads: raisins, dates, plums, cherries, sultanas – like a fruit cake made of nothing but fruit. Spice notes build around the fruit – cinnamon and nutmeg – with hints of chocolate-covered raisins developing alongside aniseed, dark-brown sugar and brown butter. Old, polished-oak notes hide at the back.

• Finish

  Dried fruit slowly fades away to leave wax-polished oak and browning autumn leaves.

• Comment

  Old-fashioned, big-sherry single malt – the style of whisky that Sukhinder Singh and Toru Suzuki love. This is the perfect celebration of 21 years of friendship: well aged and well worth the time spent creating it.