Caol Ila 10 yo 2010/2021 (52.9%, Thompson Brothers, 500 bottles)
Colour: pale white wine. Nose: sharp citrus, yeasty notes, active washbacks, sourdough, oysters with lime juice and some more 'outdoors' notes of tarry rope and fishing harbours. With water: rock pools, and swimming pools, all the pools! Also elastoplasts, mouthwash, wood ashes and bonjella mouth gel. Mouth: wonderfully ashy, lemony and coastal. Lots of seawater, some tart grapefruit, mineral salts, lemon peel and wee briny touches with a hint of vinegar. With water: nicely thickened with a richer, deeper smokiness. Kippers, lemon juice, anchovies in olive oil, chives, white and black pepper and some green olives in brine. Finish: long, lemony, smoky, coastal, sharp and pristinely fresh. Comments: yup, excellent quality, pretty faultless modern Caol Ila. Gathers one or two extra points with water in my view.
SGP: 356 - 86 points.

Caol Ila 10 yo 2010/2021 (58.2%, Watt Whisky, hogshead, 326 bottles)
Colour: very pale white wine. Nose: Mark Watt has some interesting things to say about getting aromas as colours when nosing whisky. It's something I also find myself on occasion and indeed, this one has a distinctly 'green' coastal vibe of capers in brine, wet seaweed, seawater and things like parsley, grass and petrol. With water: cornichons, more brine, preserved lemon and freshly chucked oysters. Mouth: very salty, almost like plunging mouth first into a Margherita with these notes of agave and particularly mezcal. Also lemon juice, wool, pickling brine, more seawater and green olives. With water: a slightly metallic edge to the smokiness, still razor sharp, immensely saline and increasingly mineral. Finish: long, on malt vinegar, mercurochrome and seawater. Comments: hard to argue with the purity and gutsy, saline power of this one.
SGP: 357 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 15 yo 2005/2021 (57.5%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur's Choice for The Whisky Exchange, cask #301507, refill sherry hogshead, 266 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: I think peat and refill sherry more often make better bedfellows that peat and first fill sherry. That's the case here where there's a wonderfully leathery smokiness with cured game meats, earthen floor cellar funk and plenty of natural tar extract, tobaccos, pickled walnuts and anchovy paste. A lovely sense of concentration and balance. With water: more of these elegant meaty tones with notes of cured Iberico ham, some more leathery notes, more hessian, tar and black olive bread. Mouth: cured meats, smoked sea salt, brine, old leather and lots of hessian and canvass notes. Some black pepper and paprika too. Lovely balance again and an excellent weighty texture. With water: big, punchy, leathery saltiness now. More of these impressions of smoked sea salt, smoked olive oil, black olive tapenade, tar, bandages and hot paprika. Finish: long, tarry, smoky, leathery and briny; quite a bit of spiciness and meatiness in the aftertaste. Comments: there was something distinctly Spanish about this one, perhaps I just really, really need to go back to Jerez. Excellent as ever.
SGP: 566 - 89 points.

Caol Ila 1977 (63.8%, Gordon & MacPhail 'CASK', 1980s)
How many amazing, often rather enormous, whiskies has this series sheltered over the years? This should be one of the earlier releases, probably bottled around 10 years old. Colour: deep gold. Nose: what I find both charming and extremely cool about these bottlings, is that the initial nose actually appears quite subtle and shy despite the ABV. We're initially all on petrol, wet rocks, sheep wool and wee touches of camphor, brine and aniseed. There's a feeling of fatness and richness that the modern ones lack I think. With water: doubles down on anchovies, capers, seawater, brine and lemon juice. Extremely fresh and coastal but still with a deeper sense of weight to the distillate. Mouth: this impression of petrol and seawater immediately, but with added layers and textures of smoked olive oil, fir wood, pine resin, natural tar and black olive paste. Also many wee notes of tobaccos, seawater, hessian and sandalwood. Extremely clever whisky that hops between power and subtlety with ease. With water: perfect now. Briny smoke, olive oil, sardines, capers, parsley, mineral salts, rope and tar. Huge whisky but brilliantly controlled and inviting. Finish: very long, tarry, every shade of olive, some kippery smoke, hessian and dried seaweed. Comments: I think the key difference with Caol Ila from these 1970s vintages is the distillate was a little broader and 'fatter' in texture. That's really on display here and it works excellently I have to say. Makes the drinking experience a bit easier and hugely pleasurable.
SGP: 477 - 91 points.

Caol Ila 19 yo 1974/1994 (61.1%, Signatory Vintage, cask #12566, 380 bottles)
These batches are pretty hallowed nowadays. Colour: gold. Nose: seawater, medicines, bandages, lemon juice and peat smoke. All brought together with brilliant precision and purity and with this same sense of 'weight' that was in the 1977, only here it feels even more distinct and powerful. I think power and control are the key words here. With water: green olives, fresh chopped herbs, lemongrass, gauze, pink sea salt, gorse and wet beach pebbles. Gathers a wonderful complexity that keeps evolving. Mouth: hugely dense and smoky on arrival, but not acrid smoke, rather deeper, quilted, soft kiln smoke. Pure, silky peat smoke, black olive, natural tar, hay loft, farmyard notes, many medical embrocations, iodine, kelp and bonfire embers. Becomes increasingly tarry over time, quite immense! With water: stunningly oily now! The texture is just brilliant. The impression of peated olive oil, smoked limoncello (I know when I'm getting carried away because start using tasting notes for things that don't exist), pickled mussels and gherkins, natural tar and fir wood. Also many various wee ointments and these savoury qualities of Maggi, vegetable stock and soy sauce. Keeps evolving in completely compelling ways. Finish: long, extremely deep and broad. Salty, leathery and full of soft, thick peat smoke, brine, wood ashes, olive oil, tar and mineral oil. Comments: this kind of tasting note that could easily have been three times as long. The evolution, depth and complexity is just wonderful. And water seems to work miracles on the palate with this one. They really did get things right straight off the mark in 1974.
SGP: 476 - 93 points.