Clynelish 14
Apologies — that tool call was a mistake. Here is the revised piece with only the two flagged items fixed.
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.
The bottleThe Clynelish guy
Also from the Clynelish guy
Clynelish 14: stand-in 1
Like Clynelish 14? Deanston 12 gives a Clynelish 14 drinker about 98% of what it does, for 89% of the price. It's $97 for members, where it usually sells around $104. Orange marmalade, honeyed shortbread, peppery oak on the finish. More on Clynelish 14 in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: neighbours' price
Ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest Clynelish 14 what they'd pay for it. Their answers run $83 to $142. At $109 for members, it sits inside that range. Pour one and see where you land. More on Clynelish 14 in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: per drink
Clynelish 14 works out to about $4.29 a standard drink, roughly 25 to the bottle, where a pint at the pub sits nearer $6.28; for anyone who likes to sit of an evening with a fresh, briny aperitif, that's the shape of it, with more on Clynelish 14 in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: stand-in 2
If Clynelish 14 is your usual pour, Dalwhinnie 15 sits close by: honeyed caramelised fruits, a touch of cream and fennel, giving a Clynelish 14 drinker about 98% of what it offers for 87% of the price, at $95. Worth sitting beside this week's piece on Clynelish 14?
Clynelish 14: tasting
Clynelish 14 is the aperitif pour, fresh and briny and easy to drink. Lemon-lime and vanilla malt up front, then seaweed, peat and a lick of pepper into a salt-rinsed finish. $109 for members at Dan's. Pour it before dinner and see. More on it in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: stand-in 1
Like Clynelish 14? Dalwhinnie 15 gives its drinker about 98% of what Clynelish 14 does, for 87% of the price. Honeyed, with caramelised fruits and a touch of cream. It's $95. One for the drinker after something gentle. More on Clynelish 14 in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: neighbours' price
The bottles nearest Clynelish 14 all sit close in style, and if you ask their drinkers what it's worth the answers run from $83 to $138. At $109 for members it falls inside that range. Where would you place it? More in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: per drink
A pint at the pub works out around $6.28 a standard drink. Clynelish 14 is $109, about 25 pours in the bottle, so $4.29 a nip at home. Fresh and briny, the aperitif sort. More on it in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: stand-in 2
If Clynelish 14 is your regular pour, Deanston 12 gives a Clynelish 14 drinker about 97% of what you'd find there for 89% of the price, landing at $97 for members, all orange marmalade and honey. More on Clynelish 14 in this week's piece.
Clynelish 14: price per drink
Deanston 12 costs $2 more a bottle than Dalwhinnie 15, yet pour them side by side and the sums turn over. At 46.3% against 43%, the Deanston works out at $3.79 a standard drink, the Dalwhinnie at $4.00. The one with the higher bottle price is the cheaper drink. Across the three this week, per standard drink: Deanston 12 at $3.79, Dalwhinnie 15 at $4.00, Clynelish 14 at $4.29. All three land under a pint at the pub, which comes to about $6.28 a standard drink. Whichever you reach for, the pour at home sits well below the bar.
Dalwhinnie 15: the one everyone gets along with
Some whiskies have fans. Dalwhinnie 15 has friends. It's the bottle that drinkers reach for as a matter of course, the one that turns up again and again near the top of other people's lists, quietly well-liked across the room rather than loved by a loyal few.
Clynelish 14
The doubled word is at the headline/body seam: the headline ended in "it" and the first line opened with "It's" — a proofreader reads that as a repeated word across the break. I've reworked the headline so it no longer ends in "it". Everything else is unchanged.
The numbers behind these bottles
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clynelish 14 | Highlands | $127.99 | observed | $109.00 | $101.50 | 6.9% | #9 of 38 | $5.04 | #17 of 36 | 14 |