Until a few years ago I used to purchase whisky occasionally from auctions in the UK and somehow accumulated a number of Caol Ila’s releases for Feis Ile, the annual Islay whisky festival. They’ve been sitting on my shelves ever since; it’s time to start opening them. For no particular reason, I’ll start with the 2017 release which was a 12 yo bottled at cask strength. The twist was that it had been double matured in amoroso sherry casks; and not just in any amoroso sherry casks but ones that had previously been used to make the Talisker Distillers Edition. I could be wrong but I think Diageo did that kind of a thing with a bunch of their distilleries either that year or around that time. I have a vague memory of there being another Diageo distillery’s whisky that had been double matured in casks that had previously been used to make the Caol Ila Distillers Edition. Or maybe I dreamed that up—it’s been a long time since I paid attention to this kind of thing. In this case, this complicated maturation process means the amoroso casks would have contributed not just the sweet/savoury character of the original contents but also some of Talisker’s brand of peppery peat. Let’s see what it all adds up to.

Caol Ila 12, for Feis Ile 2017 (55.8%; double matured in amoroso sherry casks; from my own bottle)

Nose: Salt and peat (char and tar in the smoke) off the top in equal measure; the sherry follows quickly (biscuity, gingerbready). Later there’s some citrus (lime) and then a creamy note as well (lime curd?). Water pushes the char back and pulls out more carbolic peat (Dettol) which goes really well with the lime.

Palate: Comes in pretty much as indicated by the nose with the smoke expanding dramatically as I swallow. Rather hot at full strength but not unapproachable; rich texture. Charred toast on the second sip (with just a smear of butter and Marmite). Sweeter with each sip (toffee, butterscotch) even as the char expands and the citrus emerges here as well. Okay, let’s add some water. Ah yes, less char here too now and generally as on the nose.

Finish: Long. The smoke billows for a bit before the salt rise again and has the last word. Continues in this vein. Water pushes the salt back here and emphasizes the carbolic peat; a bit of vanilla emerges too at the end but it works well.

Comments: Feels like bigger peat than usual for Caol Ila and that must be the extra oomph from the Talisker casks. Neat, it almost ends up in sherried Lagavulin territory; with water it’s more quintessentially Caol Ila. Anyway, it’s very nice, especially with water added. I’ll report on developments as the bottle stays open.

Rating: 88 points.