Clynelish

Originally named Brora, Clynelish Distillery was established in 1819 at the fishing port and golfing resort of Brora, on the north east coast, by the Duke of Sutherland, to provide a use for the barley grown by the tenants on his farms. He was the son of the Marquis of Stafford and acquired the vast Sutherland estates by marriage to the Countess of Sutherland. He is remembered by history for ordering the removal by force of some 15,000 men, women and children from his estates in order to make room for the more economical Cheviot sheep. Many of the crofters were forced to emigrate; others moved to the coast at Brora where the land was better for growing barley, and where there was a coal field, which it was hoped would power the distillery's machinery. The Duke sank a pit but the coal turned out to be of inferior quality and ran out quickly. James Ainslie & Co. bought the distillery in 1896. Soon after the years of the whisky boom at the turn of the century there followed a collapse of the market for fillings and Ainslie's barley survived bankruptcy until 1912 when the distillery and company were bought jointly by one John Risk and the DCL. In 1925 Risk was bought out and the Clynelish Distillery became part of the DCL empire. In 1967 a new distillery was built, also named Clynelish. The original, renamed Brora, was closed down in the 1980s. Clynelish is very highly regarded. No less a connoisseur than the great Victorian Professor George Sainsbury declared it a favourite. Many writers comment that it has the character of an island malt, perhaps because of the distillery's proximity to the sea.

Extract from The Mitchell Beazley Pocket Whisky Book by the whisky expert Charles Maclean.