Last week’s series of reviews of wine-bothered, peaty whiskies ended with a 16 yo Caol Ila with a moscatel finish. Let’s make this week all about Caol Ila, beginning with a much younger release put together from refill bourbon barrels—no wine in sight.

Caol Ila 7, 2015 (57.1%; Single Cask Nation; refill bourbon barrels; from a bottle split)

Nose: Bright carbolic peat mixed with lemon and brine. Sweeter on the second sniff with cereals and a bit of vanilla. The brine expands with each sniff and there’s a mild “green” vegetal note as well—green bell pepper. After a while there’s a nice balance of carbolic peat, acid and sweeter notes. With a few drops of water it’s sweeter still and the peat moves from carbolic to a little more phenolic/inky. More salt too now.

Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose with the smoke expanding dramatically as I swallow. Hot but approachable at full strength; rich texture. There’s more of the green bell pepper here and after a while some hot chilli pepper as well. The smoke gets ashier and there’s more vanilla as well—not sure that that’s my favourite combination. A little more lemon with time and just a bit of tar. Let’s see what water does. Ah, it melds everything nicely and brings out a biscuity/toasted poundcake note as well.

Finish: Long. The smoke gets ashy and crests; the carbolic character (Dettol) remains after the smoke has cleared. Develops as on the palate with time; more vanilla here with water.

Comments: I liked the nose from the get-go but neat, the palate was a bit too sweet and then ashy/bitter. Water fixed a lot of that but there’s still a bit too much vanilla for my taste. And I do miss the green olives and oysters and kelp reliably found in slightly older bourbon cask Caol Ila. Still, it’s very good indeed for a 7 yo whisky.

Rating: 85 points.