Clynelish 12 Year Old - Ainslie & Heilbron - 1980s

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.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.