Back in January of this year, I reviewed Caol Ila’s bottling for the 2017 iteration of Feis Ile, the Islay whisky festival. Now that I’m on the verge of finishing that bottle, it’s time to open another Caol Ila, and it may as well be another one bottled for Feis Ile. We’ll go back one year in time to 2016. Like the 2017 after it, the 2016 release was also 12 years old and without a vintage statement. While the 2017 release was to be double-mature in ex-amoroso sherry casks (I think previously used for the Talisker Distillers Edition), the 2016 was put together from a refill American oak hogsheads and European bodega sherry butts. Now as to whether the second type refers to European oak butts or merely specifies that these were butts actually used in sherry bodegas (as opposed to being reconstructed and “seasoned” with sherry expressly for the purpose of whisky maturation), I don’t know. I’m sure somebody else does—and if you’re that somebody, please write in below. Okay, let’s get to it.

Caol Ila 12, for Feis Ile 2016 (56.2%; refill American oak hogsheads + European bodega sherry butts; from my own bottle)

Nose: Big phenolic peat along with quite a bit of char and also some citrus (lemon peel, lemon-infused olive oil) and some salt. As it sits the lemon turns to lime; the citrus and the salt are in the lead now. With more time the cream from the palate emerges here as well, though melded well with everything else. With water there’s soot and wet burlap; the lime turns back into lemon, which gets sweeter; the cream expands further.

Palate: Comes in sweeter (vanilla, cream) than on the nose but all that stuff is here too. Hot but not unapproachable at full strength; good texture. The char expands as it sits and it gets more peppery, but there’s not much dramatic change with time. Let’s see what water does for it. More citrus here too with water and there’s some berry sweetness to go with it. Some tar in the smoke now.

Finish: Long. The sweetness crests and then the smoke—a mix of charred and phenolic—has the last word. As on the palate with time and water.

Comments: A beautiful bruiser of a whisky. I expect this will get even better as it softens with some air in the bottle. I will try to remember to report on developments.

Rating: 88 points.