The 2025 Special Releases bring us an 18 year old Clynelish single malt. There’s more good news as they used refill casks for maturation.
One thing stands out in the description though: it includes spirit from Clynelish’s distillation cut point experiments. It’s nicknamed the Pineapple Cut because it should highlight certain fruity notes.
Clynelish 18 yo ‘Waxen Sun’ (51,6%, OB Special Releases 2025, refill casks)
Nose: bright and fruity, certainly more on fruits than on waxy elements. There’s the cut point influence already. Fresh lemons, some pineapple indeed, peach and unripe mango. Now let’s put this into perspective, it’s fruity but not exactly a tropical fruit bomb. Light mineral / chalky notes in the background. Then a modest woody note and vanilla, even a whiff of sugared popcorn.
Mouth: creamy texture, now showing a lot more of the classic waxiness. Even more fruits now: apricots, pineapple of course, along with a hint of papaya and Cantaloupe. Then golden syrup, some honeycomb and mild pepper. The chalky side and some greener notes come out in the end.
Finish: fairly long, now moving towards creamy toffee, with some oak spice and stewed stone fruits.
A name like ‘pinapple cut’ sets expectations of course. I don’t think it makes up a big part of this composition, as the exotic fruitiness is not huge. That said, a very clean Clynelish, interesting and really nice to drink. Already available from international shops like Master of Malt for instance, as well as many local retailers.