Brine, Pepper, and the Price of a Pour

The bloke next to me at Dan Murphy's was turning a bottle of Clynelish 14 over in his hands, reading the back, putting it down, picking it up again. He asked me if it was any good. That is the whole question, really, and it splits in two: what does Clynelish 14 taste like, and what should you pay for it. So here is both.

Clynelish 14 is a fresh, appetising, very drinkable malt, and its own review calls it very true to the Clynelish style. The foundation is brine, lemon-lime fruit, and vanilla-accented malt. Over the top of that runs a delicate thread of seaweed, peat, and exotic pepper, with a hint of citrus rind bitterness, and it finishes briny and seaweed-tinged. Someone once called it the definitive aperitif whisky, and you can taste why.

If you want the same idea in a different glass, two bottles sit right alongside it.

Deanston 12 goes a sweeter, warmer way: orange marmalade, shortbread dipped in honey, ginger, cinnamon and vanilla on the nose, then salted caramel, milk chocolate, hazelnuts and fudge on a soft palate, closing with peppery oak. To a Clynelish 14 drinker it gives about 98% of what the Clynelish does, for 89% of the price. It's $97 for members this week. From what we've seen it usually sells around $104, and the spread runs $97 to $112.

Dalwhinnie 15 is the gentle one, long counted among the underrated members of its set. The nose is a deep, soft, honeyed sweetness — caramelised fruits, a touch of thick cream, a little fennel and sharp citrus — and it's that chunkiness through the middle that makes it. To a Clynelish 14 drinker it also gives about 98% of what the Clynelish does, for 87% of the price. It's $95 for members, which is right where it usually sells, though we've seen it as high as $129.

Now, the Clynelish itself. It's $109 for members at Dan Murphy's this week. From what we've seen that sits close to where it tends to land, so treat $109 as the week's going number rather than anything to raise an eyebrow at. Across about 25 standard drinks in the bottle, that works out to $4.29 a pour at home — under a pint at the pub, which runs about $13 for roughly two standard drinks, or $6.28 each. Deanston 12 comes in at $3.79 a pour, Dalwhinnie 15 at $3.99. All three, a home pour for less than the glass at the bar.

Here is the part worth sitting with. Ask the drinkers of the bottles closest to Clynelish 14 what it would be worth to them — each starting from what they already pay for their own — and the answers run from $83 to $142. At $109 for members, Clynelish 14 sits inside that band. The numbers above put it plainly: every nearest drinker who shares its flavours puts it at nine-tenths or more of their own bottle, and the swap reads the same the other way, with a Clynelish drinker landing on about 98% of the Deanston and the Dalwhinnie in turn. The two sides agree, and the range they draw holds this week's price comfortably inside it.

So, who's it for. If Clynelish 14 is already your bottle, nothing here moves you off it — $109 for members is simply what it costs this week, and the glass is as fresh and briny as ever. If you lean sweet and soft, Deanston 12 will feel like home at $97. If you want gentle and honeyed, Dalwhinnie 15 waits at $95. And if you've never had any of the three and just want a good fresh malt to open an evening with, start with the Clynelish and know the other two are standing right beside it.