Clynelish
Distillery
Located on the A9 in the popular holiday town of Brora
with commanding views of the North Sea. Spring water from
the Clynemilton burn is used to produce this fruity, slightly
smoky Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
Built in 1819 on his new farm, Clynelish provided a ready
market for barley grown by the future Duke of Sutherland’s
tenants, cruelly evicted from their crofts inland to make
way for sheep in the notorious Highland Clearances. Life
was a virtuous circle. The local mine provided coal to heat
the stills. Spent grains from the distillery fed local livestock.
Their manure improved the quality of the land… on
which the barley was grown… from which malt whisky
was made.
Unusually, the origins of the name Clynelish itself are
infrequently referred to, but the Gaelic for a green plain
or pasture is Cluain, whilst a Lios or Leas is an enclosure
or garden – so we can speculate that the name Cluain-Lios,
duly anglicised as Clyne-Lish, simply refers to cultivated
land, in other words, a farm. And as we’ve seen, the
distillery was indeed built on Clynelish Farm, which still
exists.
The whisky was highly regarded. Only private customers
were supplied; ‘trade orders’ were refused.
In 1886 the early whisky tourist, Alfred Barnard, wrote
that this was ‘always the highest priced of any Scotch
whisky’ whilst it was sold around the beginning of
the twentieth century as ‘The Finest Highland Malt
Whisky’. Professor Saintsbury, whose practice was
to keep a ‘living cask’ of the finest malt whiskies,
spoke highly of ‘Clyne Lish’ in his 1920 classic,
‘Notes On A Cellar Book’, commenting ‘A
friend of mine from Oxford days… held some mixed Clyne
Lish and Glenlivet of mine to be the best whisky he had
ever drunk.’
The barley that makes Clynelish™ is still malted
in the Northern Highlands and water is still piped down
from the Clynemilton Burn to the distillery. They go to
make a cool, coastal single malt whisky, aged in oak casks
for at least fourteen years.
The original distillery was closed for a short time but
reopened as Brora Distillery from April 1969 until May 1983.
It produced a heavily peated whisky for blending with a
completely different character, leaving the new Clynelish
to carry on the tradition.
The new Clynelish is consequently one of the youngest distilleries
on the malt map, with production starting in 1967. It is
three times the size of the original distillery, and has
retained the traditional still and water supply to guarantee
the authentic character of the malt.
Distillery Manager: Andrew Millsopp
January – March
Monday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
Tours are available
April – May
Monday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
Tours: 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 4pm
June – September
Monday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm
Sunday: 12pm - 5pm
Tours: Throughout the day, last tour 4pm
October
Monday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
Tours: 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 4pm
November – December
Monday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
Tours are available.
Closed between Christmas and New Year
All up-to-date information for our distilleries can be
found on www.discovering-distilleries.com
Contact Us
Clynelish Distillery,
Brora, Sutherland
Tel: +44 (0) 1408 623000 Fax: +44 (0) 1408 623004
Courtesy of Clynelish Distillery |
Distilleries
here on the stormy sea coast of Sutherland were forever
few and far between, yet malt whisky enthusiasts have always
championed Clynelish™ over many more famous names.
When the original distillery was built in 1819 by the future
Duke of Sutherland, the quality of Clynelish™ whisky
was so prized that only private customers were supplied.
You
can almost taste the sea air in Clynelish, with its crisp,
medium-bodied, mustard-fresh style. Although the forward,
pungent smokiness of Islay seems to be absent at first,
there are notable traces of it. Don’t think that this
is a heavy malt, though. Its clean taste makes it a fine
aperitif – and you can enjoy it just as much later
in the evening, such is its versatility.
