1997 Douglas Laing & Co. XOP Xtra Old Particular Clynelish 21 Year Old Single Cask Limited Release Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Another Clynelish with a decent age statement from Douglas Laing's acclaimed XOP series. Comes with all the right particulars (cask strength, NCF and single cask). 309 bottles produced. One only available.

Expect flavours of coconut cream, sugary shortbread, malted barley, warm pasty and stewed apples. 54.7% Alc./Vol.

Other reviews... What’s really Extra-Old here, I don’t know, but it’s true that this slightly pumped-up series by DL already sheltered quite a few glories; whether really old or not. As long as they don’t go NAS with such a name, we’re fine. Colour: straw. Nose: another one that starts sharp and millimetric, and rather all on grasses, roots, lemon, and chalk. Goes more towards sourdough after one minute or two, with some rhubarb too. Gentian. With water: raw wool, mud, and lemons and waxes. Which is all extremely Clynelish, without any make-up. That there would be hundreds of thousands of such casks sleeping in Scotland remains irrelevant to me – or rather good news. In other words, better good than rare (take that, big brands!) Mouth (neat): excellent. Melons, lemons, chalk, paraffin, grass, lime. Feels young – so much for ‘Xtra Old’ – but the distillate’s pristine. With water: roots and broken branches, always a hit. Also a little camphor and other medicinal notes. Finish: the marginally weaker part, with less precision and hints of old dough and beer. Lemons are back in the aftertaste, which is better. Comments: lost one or two points when the notes of old beer came out in the aftertaste. Just that you know.
87 points - Serge Valentin, whiskyfun.com