Caol Ila 7 yo 2014/2021 (49.5%, South Star Spirits for Campbeltown Malts Festival, port octave)
Colour: orangey amber. Nose: sizzling bacon, salty pork scratchings, paprika, spiced dark ales, smoked chillies and tar extracts mixed with fir wood resins. Lots of wood, but it's clean and well-integrated with the Caol Ila peat which feels in turn very concentrated and syrupy. Mouth: tarred bacon lardons doused in smoked olive oil and Maggi liquid seasoning (another magnum please Serge!), also herbal infused ointments, camphor, hessian and cherry flavoured cough medicines. Quite a lot going on! Finish: good length, sooty, sweetly smoky, more paprika, chilli, bacon and tar! Comments: Let's just say that I can see why this would work in C-town after dark… very clever wee selection.
SGP: 667 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 7 yo 'Periodical' (50%, Croucher & Co, port octave, 60 bottles)
A fun 'TukTuk sized' wee series from Mr Iain Croucher of North Star Spirits fame. Colour: deep orangey gold. Nose: we're in the same territory as the South Star bottling, not so much port, but a lot of active, rather modern style simmering and sweet wood spices, which works quite well with the smokiness here, going into that comfortable bacon crisps/pork scratchings territory with other things like smoked paprika, tar extracts, shoe polish and fir wood resins all in the mix. Good fun. With water: more scented now, on exotic hardwood resins, fir cones, juniper, chai tea and molasses. Mouth: sweet, concentrated, peppery and with an oily, syrupy peat vibe going on. More leathery notes, black olives and black pepper. With water: a little funkier with water, more gamey, more winey and more earthy with strawberry wine, tobacco and bramble liqueur. Finish: quite long, tarry, sweetly peaty, peppery and with rather a lot of camphor and wood resins. Comments: it's not so much anything to do with port as it is to do with rather big wood flavours, thankfully the wood is good quality and doesn't go down this cloying pencil shaving route. A fun and pretty scoffable Caol Ila, if you can find a bottle. Now, I preferred the C-town bottling by a comfortable notch.
SGP: 666 - 86 points.

Caol Ila 7 yo 2014/2021 (59.1%, The Whisky Exchange, cask #311507, hogshead, 251 bottles)
Colour: pale white wine. Nose: it's very young, but when your distillate is both peated and impeccable, that tends not to matter so much. As is the case here where we've got abundant citrus juices, seawater, capers, brined gherkins and a few salted peanuts. Pure, swooshing, razor sharp, modern peat juice. With water: takes on a nicely sooty / smoky edge with some pangs of oily sheep wool in the background. Mouth: same story. Extremely pure and sharp and vividly on raw, acidic citrus juices, salt-rimmed margaritas, picking brine and seawater. With water: again it becomes smokier, sootier, more on canvass, mineral salts and an elegantly ashy peat smoke. Finish: good length, deeper smokiness now, crushed seashells, heather and a little tarriness. Comments: it's excellent whisky, it's just that I feel there are hundreds of such bottlings out there. Which, I also suppose is a compliment to Caol Ila itself.
SGP: 367 - 85 points.

Caol Ila 6 yo 2015/2021 (57.6%, Lady Of The Glen, hogshead with PX Octave finish, 57 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: rounder, oilier, more on gravel, diesel, puffer smoke and black olives. Gruff, agitated and bad tempered peat smoke - which is actually quite fun. Also bacon jam, which I often find in these flash sherry finished young Caol Ilas. With water: chilli oil, paprika, canvass, tar and salt-cured meats. Mouth: yup, smoky bacon crisps, tarry rope, iodine and camphor. Also pickling juices and black pepper with an encroaching sawdust note. With water: still very punchy with this feeling of chilli-infused peat smoke (or peat smoked chillies) and also earthy and vegetal aspects too. Fun but a bit disjointed. Finish: rather long, on tarry rope, bitumen, plaster, smoked chilli and seawater. Comments: a brute. Lots of fun but in the end a bit tiring.
SPG: 478 - 80 points.

Caol Ila 8 yo 2013/2021 (60.6%, Elixir Distillers 'The Whisky Trail', cask #304580, hogshead, 291 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: was this an ex-sherry hogshead at some point? There's some distant feeling of earthiness, smoked beef and game stock. I also find wee leather and tobacco touches along with smoked paprika and some dried herbs. A little left field and a departure from many other Caol Ilas of similar age. With water: more chiselled and saline now. A lot of seawater, olive brine, frying pancetta and a dab of iodine. Mouth: same feeling of very distant sherry influence. Lean mineral, leathery notes with hints of smoked dark chocolate, chilli powder, game salami, mineral oil, boot polish and tarred rope. Big, fat, greasy kiln smoke and coal scuttle impressions. With water: fatter, broader and more rounded. A softer and more peppery peat smoke and a whole lot more medicinal vibes coming through. Excellent! Finish: long, deeply tarry, nicely fishy, very salty and with more pickles, brined olives and smoked chillies. Comments: a deviant, yet excellent young Caol Ila. Love this rather salty, animalistic sherry 'feeling'.
SGP: 467 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 9 yo 2012/2021 (58.3%, Lady Of The Glen, cask #311196, hogshead + Xynisteri White wine finish, 307 bottles)
Xynisteri being the main white grape from Cyprus, I don't have any experience tasting it as a wine, but Caol Ila + dry white wine is a tad scary… Colour: bright straw. Nose: so far all feels quite comfortable and classical with this modern ashy smokiness, citrus juices seawater and a surprisingly floral side that brings to mind gorse flower, heather and pollen. Very attractive and rather elegant. With water: crushed seashells, dried seaweed, beach sand and rockpools. A more fragrant and nicely coastal example I would say. Mouth: I couldn't tell you if there was much influence from the wine case, it's still a pretty straight Caol Ila. Lots of pickling malt vinegar, chip fat, green peppercorns in brine, anchovy paste and things like pickled tarragon and lemon juice on oysters. Very coastal and bright. With water: anchovies again, smoked olive oil, sandalwood, a little hessian and wee sooty and inky touches. Finish: long, getting grassier now, on lemongrass and preserved lemons with some capers and green olive notes coming though in the aftertaste. Comments: It's true that we're often comparing some of these bone-dry Caol Ilas to similarly taut and bone-dry white wines, so perhaps it's not such a scary mix after all? Yes, Angus at the keyboard.
SGP: 366 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 10 yo 2011/2022 (57.5%, Whisky Nerds, cask #5846, sherry hogshead, 326 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: flinty, earthy and gamey in profile. Lots of impressions of gun metal, toolbox rags, copper coins, natural tar and wee animalistic aspects. I'm very much a fan of this style. Also rather a lot of soot, peppery peat smoke and charcoal embers. With water: a little sweeter now with some treacle, cough syrups and menthol tobacco notes. Mouth: natural tar, black pepper, cured game meats, frying pancetta and smoked red chilli. Modern style and very good. With water: gets more resinous, more salty and earthier. A slightly dirty smokiness, black olives in brine, tarry rope and camphor. Finish: long, tarry, earthy, salty and full of salted liquorice and anchovy paste. Comments: modern sherry and modern peat that tango well together. Another excellent one.
SGP: 576 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 10 yo 2011/2021 (61.9%, Elixir Distillers 'The Single Malts Of Scotland', cask #300162, sherry butt, 612 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: very tight and pure, on spirit vinegar, seawater and mercurochrome. A handful of green olives bobbing in brine and some more fragrant touches of pink sea salt and mineral salts. Totally distillate driven! With water: much more towards this fragrant side now, more of these lovely bath and mineral salt vibes, more dried seaweed, gentler medical embrocations and feelings of beach sand and driftwood. Mouth: same feeling of singularity and purity, but there's also weight and texture in the mouth which is the perfect foil that prevents it tipping over into total austerity. Feelings of smoked olive oil and kipper smoke. With water: a little fatter, sootier, peatier and more on things like shellfish, pasta water and umami paste. Finish: long, rather tarry now, still pretty saline, on pickling juices, ointments and salted liquorice. Comments: straddles a few different profiles that can be found within modern Caol Ila. A lovely example which rewards a little patience and a carefully deployed pipette.
SGP: 366 - 88 points. 

Caol Ila 10 yo 2010/2021 (57.9%, Elixir Distillers 'The Single Malts Of Scotland', cask #319920, hogshead, 317 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: immediately sweeter and rounder, although this is still another pure profile overall, it's just that after that butt… some wonderful shoreline aromas, mineral salts, gorse flower, dried herbs, eucalyptus oils, tiger balm and putty. With water: gets saltier, more umami and a few notes of malt vinegar on some hot chips with smoked sea salt. Mouth: again just a notch sweeter, more towards salted honey, a drop of petrol, some citrus juices, tea tree oil, wintergreen and pickled tarragon. Drops of iodine, camphor and tarry rope. Love this profile. With water: a drop of limoncello on an oyster. Tar extracts, hessian, mineral oils, shoe polish, peat embers and green peppercorns in brine. Finish: long, peaty, slightly mentholated and piney, back towards gorse flowers, embrocations and all sorts of coastal 'stuff'. Comments: sweeter overall than the 2011, but with that comes more roundness and a little more complex peat flavour. Love this one just as much! Eminently pleasurable juice for beach bonfires and the like.
SGP: 566 - 88 points.