Okay, after a week off, let’s get back to the booze reviews. My most recently bottle is this Caol Ila 22, 1990 bottled by the Whiskybase shop to mark the first anniversary of their Archives label. (There were a few other anniversary releases as well but I can’t recall off the top of my head what they all were.) This was from a single bourbon hogshead and Whiskybase only got 130 bottles from it—I don’t know where the rest went. Well, the Whiskybase database lists four other Caol Ila 22, 1990s, three of which were released in 2012 along with this one. None are at the strength of this release but two were diluted to 48% and 46% respectively. So it’s conceivable that one of those might have been the destination of the rest of this hogshead. As it happens, I reviewed one of those two just over a year ago (this Mackillop’s Choice release at 46%) but it has a different cask number. So too does the Ian Macleod Dun Bheagan release at 48%. So there are either more Caol Ila 22, 1990s out there than are listed on Whiskybase or the rest may have gone into a vatting or a blend or aged further for a later release. If you know more about this, please write in below. Anyway, I opened the bottle last week and here now are my notes from the fourth pour.

Caol Ila 22, 1990 (56.3%; Archives; bourbon hogshead 13121; from my own bottle)

Nose: A little closed at first but then a good hit of phenolic peat (Dettol) comes through along with some wet wool, some lemon, some vanilla and some cereals. Not much change with time; this needs water. With water the lemon expands and it picks up some coastal notes: brine, seashells. The lemons get preserved (and smoked) as it goes.

Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose with the peat picking up some char and some sweetness as I swallow. Approachable but hot at full strength; rich texture. Continues in this vein. More lemon here too with water and it gets quite a bit sweeter even as it picks up a fair bit of cracked pepper. After a bit there’s more vanilla but the phenols make a comeback as well.

Finish: Long. The char and the sweetness expand but it’s the phenols that have the last word. As on the palate with water.

Comments: This is quite nice as it is (with water added) but I expect it will open up further with more air in the bottle (and I hope the vanilla will recede a bit). I’ll report back in a few weeks.

Rating: 87 points.