Clynelish 1965-1994 - 29 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 667

One of the Highland’s most iconic whisky distilleries, the modern Clynelish distillery dates from 1967, and ran alongside the original distillery (now known as Brora) between 1969-1983. The new Clynelish has six stills and a capacity of just under 5m litres per annum, much of which goes to owner Diageo’s blended whiskies, particularly Johnnie Walker.

Any Clynelish whiskies pre-dating the 1970s are from the distillery now known as Brora, as are most if not all of the old Ainslie & Heilbron official 12-year-olds that continued into the early 1980s. In the mid-1990s modern Clynelish was confirmed as a great whisky distillery in its own right when several outstanding 1970s vintages Rare Malts Editions and the Cask Strength Flora & Fauna 1980 appeared.

Independent bottlings of Clynelish are very common and some incredible whiskies, particularly from the mid-1990s vintages, have been released in recent years.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.