
April 26, 2017

Three more young Caol Ila

Simply because there’s more and there will be more. We’ll soon celebrate our 500th Caol Ila, I’ll try to make it a special one. In the meantime…

Caol Ila 10 yo 2006/2016 (50.8%, Club Qing, hogshead, cask #302870, 119 bottles)

A wonderful neo- Czechoslovakian retro label on this one! Seriously, I just love it. Colour: white wine. Nose: it’ a fresh, rather lightly peated Caol Ila, but there’s a lot of ashes, sauvignon blanc, raw rhubarb, and a whole jar of Vicks Vaporub. The one that ‘gives you 8 hours of relief from cough and cold’. With water: rainwater and wet coat. Forgot the umbrella. Mouth (neat): sharp, very lemony, and just as cough-syrupy as on the nose. That’s a lovely feeling, and I do enjoy these peppery/mustardy notes that start to attack you after twenty seconds. With water: lemonised seawater and a few crushed almonds. Finish: long, and rather more citrusy. Grapefruit juice, smoked. Comments: as good as it can get at ten years of age. These batches will be grandiose when they reach 25 or 30. SGP:466 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 10 yo 2006/2017 (53.6%, Whisky-Fässle, for Maltes Vänner, hogshead)

This is a scandal, no duck on the label, and some kind of squirrel instead. To think that I started to get used to those funny ducks… I think I’ll register a complaint! Colour: white wine. Nose: this one’s sweeter, apparently, rounder, more candied, with some butter cream and even drops of limoncello. It’s a bit in the style of the ‘Highland’ Caol Ilas, so far, although it dos start to become ashier and brinier after fifteen seconds. Let’s see what happens once water’s been added: gets chalkier and, once again, more medicinal. Shall I mention Vicks Vaporub once again? Mouth (neat): it is very citrusy. This is cold-concentrated Muscadet. Grapefruit jam and salty smoked cider apples. It’s a little simple, perhaps, but otherwise totally flawless. With water: really lemony and even tangerine-y, with a touch of white sugar. Finish: long and unusually sweet. More sugar than smoke, so once again, a tad in the style of Diageo’s ‘Unpeated’. Comments: excellent, just a tad unusual. SGP:644 - 85 points.

Caol Ila 12 yo 2002/2014 (56.2%, Gordon & MacPhail for The Whisky Exchange, refill hogshead, cask #8389)

We hadn’t noticed this one when it came out, so indeed we’re a little late… Colour: straw. Nose: much more austere than both 2006s, much smokier and ashier, with notes of sharp dry beer (Weissen or stuff) and grass juice. Coal smoke, soot, used crankcase oil, perhaps capers… Austere indeed. No roundness to ease your (pleasing) pain. With water: our friends the wet dogs, dogs that also smell of fresh mint (deepest apologies, dogs). Mouth (neat): all grapefruits than one could find in a whole country, plus a glass of tequila and a glass of genuine gentian eau-de-vie. Very rooty/herbal. With water: the ashes come to the front, and so does seawater. Rather sour and fierce, which we like at WF Towers. Finish: long, sharp, very grassy. Eating kelp (I imagine, never tried that). Comments: this baby just to give the lie to the saying that goes like ‘Caol Ila is the gentler Islay’. SGP:377 - 88 points.

Check the index of all Caol Ila I've tasted so far