Nose: Huge sherry nose, fortified wine, nuts, mixed fruit and peel, cherries, prunes, rose-water. It’s a very sweet, rich sherried experience with old polished oak and pipe tobacco in the background. Palate: The arrival is as big as the nose promised, like a wave of sweet sherry and rich Christmas cake. In the development there is orange marmalade, cinnamon and clove spices, sweet ginger and brown sugar. The texture is rich and unctuous. Finish: Medium/Long: Rich, sherry-soaked dark fruitcake trailing into a mildly spiced aftertaste. Clydeside Distillery was founded in 2016 and production began the following year. It is owned by Morrison Glasgow Distillers Ltd. which is associated with the independent bottler Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers (but the two are separate companies). The distillery is located in the Pump House, a refurbished historic building next to the river Clyde. Their first whisky was issued in 2021 and they now have several expressions in the core range. The distillery has an interesting visitor centre that highlights the history of Glasgow and industry on the Clyde, and they offer a range of tours. A tasting is part of the basic tour and it features four of their whiskies, of which this was the last. Napier has no age statement but it is at least 6 years of age. It is matured exclusively in sherry casks (first-fill by the taste of it) and it is an unapologetic sweet sherry bomb. It shows its comparative youth in its juicy style of sweetness but that does not mean it comes across as immature. Instead it has a fresh crispness that is very engaging. It would be a fantastic dessert whisky. This is a very impressive release from Clydeside and for me it was the standout dram of the day. A small allocation recently landed in Australia and it sold out in record time, so word about this very nice whisky has already spread. Tasted at Clydeside Distillery, 22nd April 2025 “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)