Caol Ila is the big distillery on Islay and we see many releases in the market from various independent bottlers and we love it!

Today’s review is on a Caol Ila 13 Year Old bottling from The Single Cask Ltd. which was bottled for Northern Whisky Society which I’m member of it since it was founded and also helps managing. As a co-admin I of course was involved in the process of selecting and approving this cask but trust me – the notes are accurate and good thing I don’t dish out marks for whiskies.

This Caol Ila was distilled 28.02.2007 and then matured in Bourbon cask for over 12 years before being finished in Koval cask (From Koval Distillery in Chicago, USA) which probably held Rye whisky and then also briefly held Peated Glenturret (Ruadh Maor) before it was used for this Caol Ila finish process. It was eventually bottled on 16.10.2020 and this 100 Liter cask yielded 137 bottles at 55.7%

Caol Ila 13 Year Old For NWS (55.7%, Cask #303472B)

Nose: Sweet peat smoke combined with herbal smoke and wet peat smoke. Also some coastal side with sea breeze, brine, seashore and shells and seafood. Smoked meat, vanilla and honey, green herbs perfume, lemony, velvety and caressing. Continue reading →

Fèis Ìle 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak and like many other events and festivals it was moved to an online format. One big aspect of a whisky festival is the festival bottlings and many festivals and distilleries retained their plans for a special bottling. Some replaced the original bottling with a different one like Bruichladdich, some didn’t release a bottling like Bowmore and some took their time to offer a festival bottling like the Diageo Islay based distilleries of Caol Ila and Lagavulin.

We don’t know what were the original plans for the 2020 festival bottling from Caol Ila but eventually it was revealed it’s a 16 Year Old Caol Ila finished in Amoroso sherry casks.

It was initially matured in Refill ex-bourbon casks and then finished in Amoroso treated Hogsheads, all personally selected by Pierrick Guillaume the Distillery manager.

We’ve seen Amaroso finished whisky from Diageo in the form of Talisker Distillers Edition but it’s not too common out there.

Caol Ila 16 Year Old for Fèis Ìle 2020 (53.9%, 3000 bottles, £120)

Nose: Strong and a bit sour vanilla – almost lactic. Sour sweet bright berries. yellow plums and gooseberries, maritime with  gentle smoke, sugared lemon peels, more vanilla, ripe yellow green grapes. After a long time in the glass it becomes sweeter with almonds and nuttiness. Continue reading →

How do you know that your local single malt whisky market is healthy? That it’s growing and developing nicely? There are a few key factors to gauge this: breadth of brands and expressions on the shelves, also seeing on the shelves special and limited editions (beyond the core range offers) on a regular basis, market exclusive bottlings and eventually growth in the local independent bottlers segment.

Of the latter, we’ve seen offers from Goren’s Whisky, Holy Dram and now Vintage Whisky.

Vintage Whisky are the importers of Cadenhead and Asta Morris and now they are also an Independent bottler with a recently released Caol Ila 13 Year Old single cask whisky.

Hogshead #302307 was filled on March 29th 2006 and bottled on February 21st 2020, yielding 263 bottles at 55.6%

Caol Ila 2006 13 year old (55.6%, 499NIS)

Nose: Maritime bonanza, salty, brine, minerality and sea breeze. Vanilla, honey, hay, lemonade, lemongrass, soft smoke, cured meat and grapefruit juice. Lovely. Continue reading →

With a blink (and two days absence) I fall behind with my Feis Ile 2018 commemorative reviews. Let’s fix it as soon as possible…

Feis Ile third day belongs to Caol Ila, the largest distillery on Islay (production wise) and we’ll go with another Indie bottling – a 15 Year Old single cask bottling bottled by the SMWS.

The cask was distilled on 16.03.2000, filled into a Refill Ex-Bourbon Hogshead and was bottled in 2015, producing 270 bottles at 63.5%

SMWS 53.226 Teddy boys at the beach (63.5%)

picture credit: whiskybase.com

Nose: Feels heavy yet soft. Seawater smoke, dark honey, develops over time with lemon and brine pickled meat. Continue reading →

Today is Caol Ila day at Feis Ile 2017 and let me tell you something: Caol Ila may be the least sexy (or most boring – up for you to decide) distillery on Islay. We’re so familiar with their standard and unchanged lineup expressions and with no new expressions popping out from the distillery, it seems like Caol Ila is a bit forgotten. But let me tell you something: the spirit they produce at Caol Ila? It is underrated.

There are some jolly good whiskies coming out from those copper stills. Old Caol Ila whiskies are amazing and even the younger whiskies can be good.

Want a proof? Today’s whisky is your evidence. Initially I planned a review of te Official Caol Ila 25 yo which is more than decent and is available for purchase for a very decent price, but I ‘slipped’ and drank it all without writing notes. Oops.

So next Caol Ila on the shelf was this 19 year old Caol Ila bottled by SMWS. It’s a clear proof that Caol Ila whisky is good and also my first SMWS review in a long while. Damn I should review more of those!

SMWS 53.233 Fireman’s Gloves on a Mermaid (19 Year Old Caol Ila) (60.5%, 258 bottles)

Nose: Full of brine and salt, pudding-y, gentle peat smoke and bonfire smoke from afar, somewhat medicinal although it’s not laphroaig-esque and juicy. Continue reading →