
February 21, 2019

Three Caol Ila

One young, two old ones.

Caol Ila 11 yo 2007/2018 (57.4%, James Eadie, Palo Cortado finish, cask#314431, 300 bottles)

Actually, this baby was finished for six months in a first fill palo cortado sherry European oak hogshead. Phew. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s a rather PXed sherry than palo, with this extra sweetness and roundness, but a pulsating peaty smoke is soon to take control. Never understood all the friends that keep claiming that Caol Ila is ‘lightly peated’. Well, only the unpeated CI is lightly peated if you ask me. After three minutes, we’re having a pure coastal peater, with iodine, kelp, oysters, and mercurochrome. Adios sherry! With water: butterscotch and crystallised ginger. Mouth (neat): very lovely, and indeed very lightly sherried, it’s rather the European oak that we’re noticing, with this rather loud spiciness. Green pepper, nutmeg, ginger, juniper… With water: fine. Caraway and cloves, green spices. Finish: long, a tad meaty. More juniper, cloves… Butterscotch and Tabasco in the aftertaste. Comments: excellent, just the spicy EU oak on the palate was a tad too preeminent for me. So the finishing feels a bit, but it’s excellent nonetheless.
SGP:466 - 83 points.

Since we're doing finishings…

Caol Ila 30 yo 1984/2014 (56.2%, Riegger’s Selection, rum cask finish, 360 bottles)

Finishing a 30 yo CI in rum, even if the whisky was a little tired and flabby originally, sounds as odd to my ears as adding raspberry jelly to some caviar that would have gone a little weak. But there, let’s see what happens tovaritch… Colour: straw. Nose: a rather rounder and oilier CI, but I can’t find any obvious rumness. No bananas, no grapefruits, no sugar syrup, no caramel… Rather green apples, lemons, oysters, the ladies’ crab cakes (the Diageo ladies on Islay make the best in the whole world), a moderate citrusness, seawater, and indeed a moderate peatiness. With water: almond oil, olive oil, samphires. Mouth (neat): it is very good. The rum’s almost unnoticeable, which is just cool. Phew! Good lemons, limes, and grapefruits, plus some brine and olives. Cannot be against that. With water: excellent, just a tad peppery at first, then medicinal. Toothpaste, grapefruits, whelks. I know, I know… Finish: rather long, salty, coastal, smoky, brine-y. No sugarcane in sight. Comments: finishings are always better when you cannot quite feel them, aren’t they?
SGP:456 - 88 points.

Caol Ila 36 yo 1982/2018 (54.4%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 120 bottles)

Caol Ila 36 yo 1982/2018 (54.4%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 120 bottles)
And so there, in the midst of a cold winter, they’ve issued a 36 yo CI in their rather shy Authentic Collection. And only four-zero-zero Euros a bottle. Now given the outturn, it was probably sold out even before Theresa May started to realise that the EU was meaning it. And didn’t care about exotic dancing. Colour: pale gold. Nose: what I really enjoy in these old ‘naturally matured’ Cis is the purity, as well as the various vegetal oils that you’ll find in the nose. In this case, that would be sesame, grape pip, and perhaps rapeseed. All the rest is pretty perfect, on seawater, iodine, fresh almonds (big and very CI), camphor, herbal liqueurs, Synthol, fresh walnuts, mushrooms… In short this is very Caol Ila indeed. With water: oysters, lemon and kelp. Would you mind passing the Sancerre? Mouth (neat): it’s pretty big, rather more brutal than I had expected, but also more tropical, more exotic, with notes of mangos ala old Laphroaig, a lot of sap and waxes, mint, tar, sesame and olive oils… With water: oh, one that gets a little dirty, not a problem at all. So old vegetables, I would say, French beans… More tar too, ink, oils, almond glue… Feels very fresh, and young I would add. Aren’t these batches pretty immortal? Finish: long, almondy, salty, with notes of citronella and smoked salmon. Works very well. Comments: amazing. These Caol Ilas age like Halle Berry, but 120 bottles, really?
SGP:466 - 92 points.

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