32 Caol Ila, part two


May 28, 2024

Caol Ila part two

Last time, it was G&M and especially the Distillery that took the spotlight. Let's see what happens today... Knowing that it is now understood that the latest vintages are absolutely no longer the "gentle peaty Islays" as described in the books.

Caol Ila 11 yo 2012/2023 (48%, Elixir, Single Malts of Scotland, 'Reserve Cask Parcel 11', refill butt)

This baby from four casks. These vintages should be pretty peatier… Colour: pale gold. Nose: we love this, mineral oils, lime, petroly Riesling, and that soft green walnut in the background. It's a very pure young Caol Ila, with a wonderfully discreet sherry influence. Mouth: precise, as they say, with perhaps a bit more sherry than on the nose, but it's in a fino style, taut, salty, with notes of walnuts and mustard. The rest is very classic, with just a little unexpected but lovely floral note of violet. Violet liquorice (Réglisse Florent) and a very slight earthy side. Finish: nice length, lots of elegance, a slight fattiness from the casks, salty petrol in the aftertaste. Comments: very, very lovely variant and perfect reduction, allowing us to leave the pipette or coffee spoon in the drawer. Yippee.
SGP:567 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 13 yo 2010/2023 (55.1%, Berry Bros. & Rudd, For France, Islay Selection, PX finish, cask #311746, 280 bottles)

Hope the PX won't have offset the tension. Colour: dark gold. Nose: the combination of Caol Ila and PX seems to have created a third dimension, with dried flowers, patchouli, leather, antique balm, and English cigarette tobacco (no more brand names, it'll come back to bite us someday. OK, untipped Benson red box). Then camphor balm and again, violet liquorice. It's very talkative, speaking a different language. With water: it becomes very medicinal. Lots of mint and eucalyptus, somewhere between toothpaste and cough syrup. Mouth (neat): the sweetness of the PX is obvious, beyond that we're moving towards something like a peated Macvin du Jura, with lots of leather and tobacco, leading to a rather formidable bitterness in the background. Genuine fermented gentian, not macerated. With water: raisins and bitter orange, with a bit of brine. Finish: long, quite bitter. Italian amaro, turmeric, nocino. Comments: quite thick, a bit mad. The bitters are spectacular, perhaps it was 'seco' PX?
SGP:476 - 85 points.

Caol Ila 14 yo 2008/2023 (57.9%, Rest & Be Thankful, LMDW, bourbon hogshead, cask #310760, 276 bottles)

A series by fairly recent bottlers and brokers Fox Fitzgerald Ltd. Colour: white wine. Nose: totally the opposite of BB&R's, extremely taut, with new rubber, lanolin, bitter herbs, flint, and chalk, then oyster shells and a very mineral peat. Followed by ash and fish oil. With water: an abundance of freshly cut grass. Mouth (neat): it's really very good, with varnish, concentrated lemon juice, utterly unripe apple, and seawater. A bit for the masochists, but I count myself among them. With water: a lemon that sends vibrations down your spine. Finish: long, somewhat more classic, with plenty of ash and a bit of pine. Pine ash. Comments: it almost feels like it was matured in a plastic cask, maybe not even food-grade plastic. And that's precisely what we love about this rather extreme Caol Ila.
SGP:376 - 87 points.

Caol Ila 15 yo 2007/2022 (53.4%, Acla Selection, 10th Anniversary Series, Switzerland, cask #304989)

Magnificent photograph of an owl or an eagle-owl by Claudio Gotsch on the label. The day AI can do that, we'll all have long perished from an excess of sugar or salt. Or both. Colour: very pale white wine. Nose: pure Caol Ila. Paraffin, ashes, smoke, lemon, crabs. Magical. With water: just a very well-bred Caol Ila (like the Swiss). Mouth (neat): absolute maritime purity. You almost feel like tiny fish might jump out of your glass. Green apple, lemon, vegetable oil, ashes, and oysters. With water: a bit of mint, eucalyptus, lime, green walnuts, green pepper… This greenness is admirable. Finish: very long, sharp, peppery. Comments: only the finish lacked just a touch of precision. Yes, we are picky. I love this Caol Ila that leaves lemon on your lips, another one I should have tasted much earlier.
SGP:467 - 89 points.

Caol Ila 10 yo 2013/2023 (48.2%, Signatory Vintage, Small Batch, Edition #4, sherry)

'From Pitlochry to the World', as they say on the labels. A lovely nod, I must say, but it won't make us forget that heavily sherried peated whiskies are often a love-hate affair. Colour: amber. Nose: as expected. Flint, smoked figs, Bündnerfleisch, blood oranges, a just-extinguished pipe, touches of rubber (new tyre), fig leaves… Water isn't necessary. Well, it's up to you. Mouth: roasted chestnuts, slightly burnt chocolate cake, equally burnt orange cake, a mountain of ashes (tobacco, vegetal, charcoal) and bell pepper. Finish: long, smoky, with robusta coffee. American barbecue sauce, black pepper, and chocolate in the aftertaste. Comments: this rascal really shakes you up, there's a bit of a young mad dog feel to it. Not a parlour Caol Ila by any means, but I really like it.
SGP:576 - 84 points.

Another perspective on 'sherry', perhaps...

Caol Ila 12 yo 2011/2023 (56.2%, DH Global Wine, Connoisseurs Dram, 1st fill oloroso, cask #25643, 328 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: here we have a tight, very clean Caol Ila that certainly doesn't scream 1st fill oloroso. Wet wool, apples, ashes from an old campfire, oyster shells, indeed a bit of green walnut… With water: not much change, just a hint of bread dough. Mouth (neat): this was a very, very well-behaved oloroso. Or perhaps it was ultra-speed seasoning with oloroso that had already met several new casks. Herbal spices, pencil shavings, lime liqueur, Jamaican rum… On the palate, it's a really unusual profile, but very lovely. Excellent concentration. With water: excellent now, with notes of walnuts, kippers, lime, herbs (sorrel, watercress), salty porridge enhanced with a lot of whisky… Finish: long, even more precise. This green wood aspect works very well, not sure where it comes from. More medicinal in the aftertaste. Comments: very lovely young herbaceous Caol Ila, quite different. Are you bringing the sushi?
SGP:376 - 87 points.

Good, an older one…

Caol Ila 30 yo 1993/2023 (52.6%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Artist #13, LMDW, refill bourbon hogshead, #53.461, 'Enthralling Elegance')

It's quite dreadful what they say—it seems that coming up with new names for the SMWS whiskies is so exhausting that they have to retire their creative folks every 100 casks. They're then usually found in the early morning, collapsed in some old gloomy alleys of Edinburgh. Colour: pale gold. Nose: the problem with Caol Ila is that it's an almost eternal spirit; I don't think we've ever tasted one that was truly tired. The downside is that they never really, exactly seem to age, and a thirty-year-old can appear to be fifteen or even ten. That's somewhat the case here, to be honest. Crabs, oysters, beach sand, ashes, pine needles, lemon and green apple, and wait, a few touches of exotic fruits indeed. Papaya and banana. With water: not much more. A bit of carbon paper and old magazines. Like National Geographic from the 1970s. Mouth (neat): anyway, 1993 was just yesterday. More seriously, you can sense an 'age-related transmutation', but more towards old manzanilla or dry Madeira. Grape seed oil. Very intriguing. With water: various oils, smoked fish, banana skin. One must be careful with water. Finish: good length, on smoked herbal teas. Lapsang souchong, apple peelings. Comments: the number one issue is water. Just like in the world, our friends at the Maclean Foundation might say. Very difficult to get a good result by adding just a drop or two.
SGP:564 - 87 points.

We did say that 7 was a good number, didn't we? So, stay tuned, see you...

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