Alright, Caol Ila week got off to a good start on Monday with a young Signatory release put together from a mix of ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks. Here now is an only-slightly older release from Gordon & Macphail that was put together from first-fill bourbon barrels (how many, I’m not sure). Let’s get right to it.

Caol Ila 11, 2005 (54.1%; Gordon & MacPhail; first-fill bourbon barrels; from a bottle split)

Nose: A little closed at first but then there’s oak. The peat takes a few beats to register and then it’s there, with disinfectant mixed in with some lemon, brine and some slightly ashy smoke. As it sits a fair bit of vanilla emerges and the oak gets toasted. With water the smoke and the oak both pick up some char and the vanilla turns to cream.

Palate: Comes in with the oak here too but the lemon hits pretty quickly, bringing a lot of salt with it. The smoke unfurls as I swallow. Approachable at full strength; good texture. The smoke and lemon and salt are ascendant on the second sip, with the oak taking a backseat. With more time the oak becomes more talkative again, and also a touch bitter; the vanilla starts showing up here as well. Okay, let’s see what water does for it. It pushes the oak back and mixes the salt and smoke with the sweeter notes.

Finish: Long. The smoke and salt are dominant here. The smoke gets more phenolic as it goes even as the oak hangs out longer as well. Generally as on the palate with water: sweeter here with some roasted malt showing up as well.

Comments: Neat, there’s a bit too much oak and it covers up some of the coastal character of Caol Ila. Water fixes that to a large extent. Hogsheads rather than barrels would have been better, and refill hogsheads would have been better still.

Rating: 86 points.