The first whisky reviews of 2024 were both of peated whiskies last week: a very nice Croftengea 12, and an Ardmore 23 that was not as nice at all. Let’s keep the peat flowing this week, with a trio of Caol Ilas. Hopefully, they will put us back on a positive trajectory. First up, is a young small batch release from Signatory that was put together for the German market from two refill butts and three refill hogsheads. Let’s see what it’s like.

Caol Ila 9, 2010, Small Batch #7 (47.1%; Signatory for Kirsch Import; two refill butts+three refill hogsheads; from a bottle split)

Nose: Phenolic, inky peat with green bell pepper, as is not unusual with sherried Caol Ila. On the second sniff there’s some lemon and some brine to go with the ink as well as some more savoury notes. As it sits there’s more coastal notes (shells, more brine) and an open jar of kalamata olives as well. Softer notes emerge with more time (vanilla, milky cocoa). A few drops of water bring out more vanilla.

Palate: Brighter smoke here along with the lemon. A pretty good bite for the abv; the texture is a bit too thin. The smoke expands with each sip, picking up salt crystals and lime as it goes. Gets more phenolic as it sits and then also sweeter (some biscuity vanilla). With more time still the sweet and the smoky merge in the form of pipe tobacco. Okay, let’s add some water. Water pushes the sweeter notes back and brings out soot and some bitter smoke.

Finish: Long. The smoke dominates and it’s much ashier here; quite a lot of pepper too. Develops as on the palate with time and water.

Comments: A very nice sherried Caol Ila that mostly belies its age—though there isn’t much by way of complexity. The sherry component is clearly dominant but does not entirely cover up the charms of ex-bourbon Caol Ila (the coastal complex). I preferred it neat.

Rating: 86 points.