Caol Ila, no 1 on WF


September 23, 2021

Caol Ila, #1 on WF

I mean, as far as numbers of different expressions go. Given what's in the boxes, I doubt that's going to change in the near future. Ready for a little more colailafun.com, randomly? To the very average taster such as yours truly, randomness brings a bit of salt and would lower the odds of coming up with too many almost identical whiskies, which would make it all boring as Boris (apologies, couldn't resist).

So, eenie…

Caol Ila 10 yo 2011/2021 (46%, Signatory Vintage for Whisky Live Paris, first fill bourbon barrel, cask #310866, 300 bottles)

This is this year's official bottling for WL Paris, an excellent choice I'm sure. I hope to see you in there at the weekend, the last whisky festival I could attend, pre-Covid, having been Ulan-Bator 1927. Or was it 1926? Colour: white wine. Nose: roasted almonds this time, roasted sesame, roasted pine nuts, then the expected limoncello and seawater, with the appropriate quantities of tincture of iodine, creosote and just barbecue ashes. Fresh kelp and oysters too. Mouth: excellently fresh, with a little varnish and really a lot of limoncello at first (feels higher than 46%), then more rustic notes of paint and, well, even more varnish. It's rather brutal, in fact, but that's a clear asset since we've all already got around 726,845 'regular' and 'gentler' bottles of Caol Ila in our drink cabinets. Finish: very long, varnishy, medicinal, ashy, salty and with some chillies. Comments: I just couldn't imagine how this boisterous young CI would be at cask strength. Probably illegal anyway, unless you've got a firearms licence. See you at Whisky Live Paris!
SGP:467 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 8 yo (46%, James Eadie, Small Batch, export exclusive, 2021)

Colour: white white wine. Yep. Nose: much gentler, cleaner, on classic oysters, lemons, ashes and fresh almonds. Seawater, mercurochrome, riesling and whiffs of nail polish. Mouth: impeccable, salty, maritime, slightly sour, with some grapefruit juice and the tightest sauvignon blanc. Ziiiing. Finish: long, ashier, a tad gritty. Some turpentine, some white spirit, some concentrated lemon juice. Comments: you can't resist these kinds of paint thinners, can you.
SGP:466 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 9 yo 2011/2021 (50.4%, Chapter 7, Monologue, first fill barrel, 297 bottles)

A monologue? In that case, to be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and of Caol Ila… Colour: white wine. Nose: a walk on the beach at 6am. Incredibly fresh and refreshing, pretty lighter in truth, with whiffs of chablis on oysters, riesling on langoustines and champagne on lobsters. More or less. With water: lemon-sprinkled oysters. How very classic. Mouth (neat): immediate and evident, even if a little fattish and dirty here and there, which is not very CI. Grilled bell pepper and barbecued bananas. Perhaps a little uncertain and un-smoky this far, let's see… With water: no, cancel all that, it was just in need of a little H2O. Lemons, oysters, ashes; I repeat… Finish: medium, lemony. Comments: excellent, even if a tad less 'evident' than others. Just like Shakespeare.
SGP:456 - 85 points.

Caol Ila 8 yo 2012/2021 (51.4%, Chapter 7, Monologue, hogshead, 301 bottles)

2012? That's yesterday, no? An no, no Shakespeare. Colour: white wine. Nose: it is somewhat younger but believe me, this is easier, rounder, cleaner, 'better' Caol Ila by WF standards. Linseed oil, Woolite, bandages, brake fluid, whelks and oysters, lambswool… In short a whole different dimension. With water: ointments, carbon dust, limestone and linseed oil. Mouth (neat): terrific ultra-clean young CI, very salty, coastal and with even a wee green olive in the middle (they'll soon grow some around Ullapool, believe me). With water: salty as salty mezcal, a little rough around the edges, perhaps a tad eau-de-vie-ish. Raw plum spirit (better after midnight). Finish: long, tough and salty. Am I not finding capers in the aftertaste? Comments: this one's a little insane. Love it at times, hate it at times, what's sure is that CI is absolutely not the 'gentle Islay' from the whisky books anymore.
SGP:366 - 88 points.

Caol Ila 13 yo 2007/2021 (54.1%, The Whisky Blues and Dram Youth Whisky Bar, refill hogshead, cask #320555, 276 bottles)

Love these labels, they remain both different and elegant. I mean, some of the new indie labels just make you want to poke your own eyes out, do they not? Colour: white wine. Nose: huge varnish, nail polish remover, ammonia and gherkin juice. All is fine, is it not? With water: no changes. More ammonia and antiseptic, paint thinner, green lemons, model glue… Mouth (neat): wham! Extreme arrival, extremely acetic, close to the 'highest' Jamaican rums. Barely legal, I say. With water: way nicer, easier, and yet extremely salty and acetic – I'm not saying vinegary on purpose. Oysters are soon to take over, together with lemons and the tightest white wines. Finish: you cannot get rid of so much varnish, can you. Crazy stuff. Comments: reminds me of some New Yarmouths I tried the other day. How do you score these bacter… I mean this whisky? Of course I love this extreme CI, still.
SGP:377 - 87 points.

This is getting tough, a last one please…

Caol Ila 13 yo 2007/2021 (57.8%, The Whisky Blues, refill hogshead, cask #320319, 160 bottles)

Another one by, or rather for our friends in Taiwan. Colour: white wine. Nose: this is so much gentler, rounder, more on grasses and fresh nuts, whelks and crabs, ripe apples, hand cream, Chablis, almond 'milk' (you can't call that 'milk' anymore in the EU)… With water: oil paint and fresh marzipan plus white asparagus, branches and celeriac. High-class. Mouth (neat): completely different, ultra-tight, acidic and acetic. Calls for hectolitres of water. With (hectolitres of) water: hard to tame, with ammonia again (cheese), acids, concentrated brines, Sicilian capers, various ferments, earth, roots, gentian… Boy is this a fight! Finish: iodine, vinegar and concentrated lemon juice. Sharp and ultra-tight, almost bacterial once again. Love this style but you have to be in shape. Comments: another new-wave mad and pretty challenging Caol Ila. You just cannot binge-try too many of them or they'll force you out of business. No, really, they're incredible.
SGP:367 - 88 points.

Ciao.

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